YuGiOhZT
by Marvel Maiden Squalls
Summary: Zeta High School has never won a City-Wide tournament. Will the arrival of Terry Flank change all of that? Or will selfishness and solitude cause them to fall once again?
1. New School Again!

Chapter 1: New School...Again!

_"Terry, did you get kicked off the playground again?"_

_"Ya, so?"_

_"Did you hit someone?"_

_"He was calling me names."_

_"But if you keep on hitting people you'll never be able to play on the playground."_

_"The playground is for babies. Fighting is more fun."_

_"Well, when your older, if you fight, you can go to jail."_

_"Well, I like to fight."_

_"How about fighting a different way?"_

_"What do you mean? There's only one way to fight."_

_"Actually there's a less painful way."_

_"How?"_

_"Its a game, called Duel Monsters..."_

_---_

_"I now flip summon Magician of Faith!" Terry announced, and a girl with purple hair appeared. (ATK 300)(DEF 400)"I can now take a spell card from my Graveyard!" (TLP 300)_

_"It's not going to help you," smirked the little boy on the other side of the table. (BLP 300)_

_"I choose Magic Blast!" Terry announced. "And since I have Apprentice Magician as well as the Magician of Faith, you take 400 damage declaring me the winner!"_

_"Hold your horses," the boy laughed. "I play my face down, Magic Jammer! I discard one card and the magic card is destroyed." Terry's eyes narrowed angrily._

_"Your turn done?" the boy asked. Terry sighed and nodded._

_"Now, for my turn," the boy smiled drawing a card. "I'll play my Celtic Guardian! And he'll attack your Apprentice Magician declaring ME the winner!" The boy laughed proud in Terry's face. Terry's fist slammed on the small table in frustration._

_"Face it," he snapped. "Your deck is wimpy! And your just as bad, Bean stalk.."_

_"Don't call me that!" Terry shouted, jumping out of the chair and tackled him to the floor. Terry got in a few good punches before being yanked away._

_"My office, now!" declared the principal taking them away._

_---_

"Honey wake up!" Rang the joyful voice of Terry's mother, Jennifer. It shot through one ear and out the left. Terry's eyes opened and glanced over at her.

"We're here!" She chimed excitedly, pulling the silver Volvo to the curb. Terry's narrowed eyes glanced out the car window. Zeta High School stood only meters away, with a sea of students before it. The girls were dressed in purple shirts and black skirts, the boys in black shirts and blue pants, and blue jackets done up all the way, or half way. Terry rolled up the sleeves to the jacket so they were past the elbow.

"Promise me that you won't get kicked out of this school," Jennifer asked in a concerned voice.

"Why should I promise?" Terry asked, still slouched in the seat.

"Because you have a bad rep going on, and your only in grade nine. And I don't want it to get worse," she explained.

"Well I shouldn't be at these schools," Terry said defiantly. "I should be at Duel Academy, but _someone_ wont let me go."

"Well there's more to life then just dueling," Jennifer sighed. "You have a whole life ahead of you and I wont you to use it right."

"But dueling is my life," Terry sighed annoyed. "Why can't you just let that be?"

"Because I won't let my child become some card-crazed fool," she shouted.

"Save it mom," Terry shoved the car door open and stepped out.

"Have a nice day," she sighed as Terry slammed the door shut. Terry began to walk to the big front doors of the school, and as expected most of the kids were giving Terry confused looks, and/or giggling behind their hands. Terry shrugged them off and walked into the school.

Terry marched down the wide locker covered hallways, brushing off every weird look. This school was so old fashioned compared to the other 3 high schools Terry had been to. Oh yes, been kick out of 3 schools in the past 4 months. Either for illegal dueling with the Ante rule, or for beating up took the set of stairs by two, and continued down a smaller hallway. Finding the locker 527, Terry swung the locker open a little too fast and hit a smaller boy who had just got to his locker. The boy stumbled back, and landed on his rear.

"Umph!" the boy cried on impacted. Terry glared at him. He had short blonde hair in the front, but in the back it reached his shoulders. He wore a blazer instead of a jacket, his glasses hung on his nose, and a big sub sandwich was in his hand.

"You mind watching it?" the boy asked standing up. The boy was a whole head shorter then Terry.(Terry was tall to begin with) Terry didn't reply, and looked away.

"Hey dude," he said, poking Terry. "I'm talking..." Terry faced him with a very angry look, and bent down so their faces were at the same level.

"Listen, dude," Terry mocked. "Touch me again, and that sub won't be the only sandwich you'll be eating."

"Wait uh...," he looked at Terry with surprise. "...You're a girl?"

"So what?" she replied, standing up straight again. "You have a problem with that?"

"Um, well...," he stuttered, and Terry brought her fist up.

"NO!" he squeaked in a frightened voice.

"Good," she nodded, putting her backpack in her locker. " She got her stuff out and slammed the locker shut, causing the boy to jump in surprise. She locked it up and brushed past him leaving him dumbfounded.

---

_"What's that ugly thing?"_

_"Its a Duel Monster, from the game I told you about."_

_"It looks like a rat."_

_"Haha, that's because it is."_

_"I don't wanna beat kids with an ugly rat!"_

_"Well, no matter how Duel Monsters look, they can be very useful, you just have to create a strategy."_

_"Will you give me one? And one that isn't ugly?"_

_"I've got just the one..."_

_---_

Terry was brought back to reality by the buzzing of the annoying school bell. The first half of the day was a bore. The teachers went on about things that never sparked an interest to her. She made her way to her locker again, and got out her backpack, shoving her stuff in. She headed down the stairs ready to leave the grounds for lunch, but something caught her eye. She saw a big lug of a guy picking on a small girl who looked her age.. She couldn't stand bullies, so she went over to solve the situation.

"Just leave me alone," the girl pleaded. Her head was facing the floor and her long black bangs covered her face.

"Your so pathetic," the boy laughed. "Your like the only person at this school without a deck. You shouldn't belong here, or any other school! Why don't you go home and cry to your mommy?" She saw the girl begin to tremble, and she saw a drop of water fall from her face. Terry never like bullying, unless of course she was doing it, and only physical. Verbal bullying really pushed her buttons(along with many other things). She couldn't stand watching, so she decided to get involved.

"Hey you!"she shouted. She stood so the girl was directly between them. The girl looked up at her in fear, probably thinking she would join in on the insults.

"And who are you?" the bully laughed. "Must be a Freshman if your even thinking about talking to me"

"In fact I am," she snapped. "And I don't like talking, or how your treating her. So either you shut up and leave, or I make you."

"Oh, u think your so tough," he said.

"I am," she nodded, opening up her backpack. "but I'd rather leave the fighting to my monsters." She revealed a duel disk, and slipped it onto her arm, dropping her bag beside her.

"You duel cross-dresser?" the bully insulted.

"Your all talk," Terry snapped. "Your insults don't bother me, so put you deck where your mouth is."

"With pleasure!" the bully motioned another a boy over and he handed him a duel disk. The girl ran over to Terry's side, and whipped her eyes.

"Th-thank you," she stammered, looking at her with icy blue eyes.

"Just get back, and don't distract me," Terry ordered removing her deck from her back pocket and slid it into the duel disk causing it to open up. The bully put his deck in and his disk opened as well. Kids cleared the section of the hallway they were using, and stood behind them on either side.

"You ready to lose?" the boy shouted, as 4000 life points appeared on either side.

"Ready to put you in your place is what I'm ready to do!" Terry shouted back.

"DUEL!"

"I'll go first!" Terry said, drawing her card. "I'll summon Rapid-Fire Magician, in attack mode!" A man with purple clothes with yellow trimming appeared with a staff in each hand and many colored orbs floating around him.(ATK 1600)(DEF 1200)

"I'll now activate Nightmare's Steelcage!" A giant cage of steel formed its way around the bully's side of the field. "And if you don't know what that is, it means you can't attack for two turns."

"Big d..." the bully's sentence was cut short for the Rapid-Fire Magician sent orbs at him with one of his staffs. (BLP 3600)

"What the hell was that!" he demanded, as the orbs returned to the Magician. "You can't attack on the first turn!"

"I set off Rapid-Fire Magician's special ability," Terry explained, closing her eyes, arms crossed. "Every time I use a spell card, you take 400 damage in Life Points.

Now I'll set this card face down and end!"

"Whatever," the bully mumbled under his breathe, drawing his card. "That thing won't be out for very long. I use Mystical Space Typhoon!" The card appeared before him, and a tornado shot out destroying the Steelcage.

"Your steelcage was put to waste," he laughed. Tori didn't react in anyway, she just kept looking at him with a cold hard stare.

"Now, I summon Malice Doll of Demise!" the boy shouted, slapping a card onto his duel disk. A wooden puppet with torn clothes appeared with and over-sized axe at hand.(ATK 1600)(DEF1700) Terry saw the attack points of both the monsters were the same, but she figured the bully already knew that. "And I'll equip it with Sword of Dark Rites! This will increase his attack points by 400!" (ATK 2000) The doll laughed a scary laugh as the sword appeared before him. He ditched his axe and grabbed onto the sword greedily.

"Now attack Rapid-Fire Magician!" the bully ordered. The doll ran at the magician as fast as its wooden legs would carry him. He plunged the sword into the magician's abdomen, and he shattered into tiny pieces.(TLP 3600)

"Tie game," was all she said.

"Mmhmm," the bully placed a card face down, with a smirk. "Your turn." Terry drew her card, and looked at it. Her eyes widened with surprise, as it brought back a memory.

_"You find me a Duel Monster yet?" Terry asked._

_"Sure did," a woman answered holding out a thin card. Terry took it and looked at it in awe._

_"She's pretty," she smiled._

_"I never thought I'd here you saw something like that," she laughed._

_"She has brown hair like me!" she giggled._

_"Yes she does," she smiled. "This is the first card of your very own deck."_

_"What is she?" Terry asked._

_"A magician," she answered._

_"Well, I wanna collected all the magicians," Terry laughed._

_"Well good luck with that, 'cause there are a lot," she rubbed Terry's head with her hand. "Take good care of this card. Protect her, for one day, she'll protect you..."_

"Yoohoo! Miss drag queen!" the bully taunted, sending some of the kids on a laughing fest. "That card too cool for you to handle?" Terry just shrugged it off and add the card to her hand.

"I summon Mythcal Beast Cerberus!" Terry shouted as a glowing circular symbol appeared before her. A blue and purple lion-like creature with a second head came up out of it and roared loudly.(ATK1400)(DEF1400)

"Did you forget your math?," the bully laughed. "It isn't strong enough to beat my doll."

"I also equip it with Mage Power!" The beast began glowing a red color. "For every magic and trap card out on my field, he gets an additional 500 attack points and defense points! And Mage Power counts." (ATK1900)(DEF 1900)

"It still doesn't..."

"His special effect now activates," Terry interrupted. "For every time a spell card is used he gains a Spell counter adding 500 points to his attack total. (ATK 2400) Now attack his Malice Doll of Demise!" The beast lunged forward ready to dig its claws into the doll's wooden figure.

"I activate Dimension Wall!" His face down card flipped up. "My doll may be destroyed, but you take the damage!" Cerberus destroyed the doll effortlessly, but Tori took the difference in damage. (TLP 3200) Cerberus returned to Terry's side of the field, as his attack points lowering. (ATK 1900)

"What was all that about?" the bully asked curiously.

"After Cerberus attacks all spell counters are removed," She explained annoyingly. "I'll play this card face down and end." (ATK 2400)

"Hey! How did his attack points go up again! You only have one face up!" he objected.

"The card says each spell and trap on my side of the field," Terry sighed. "It didn't specify face up or not." The bully mumbled under his breathe as he drew his next card.

"I place this monster face down, and play Swords of Revealing light!" Terry was now surrounded by swords of glowing light. "Don't think about attacking for 3 turns! And my turn is over with this card face down." Terry shrugged as Cerberus' attack points went up. (ATK 2900) Cerberus was doing good with attack points, so she couldn't let him be destroyed. So it was time to use the card she was given many years ago.

"I play...Magician's Valkyria!" A girl with long brown hair, dress in aqua and purple clothes with yellow trimming, and her curved weapon at hand. She stood strongly next to Cerberus.(ATK 1600)(DEF 1800)

"So now I can't attack your Cerberus, only that wimpy thing?" the bully laughed. "That's fine by me!"

"Good," Terry snapped. "I'll end my turn with her." The bully made his draw and laughed.

"This duel is as good as mine!" he shouted. "I'll now flip summon my monster, Stealth Bird!" A bird that looked like it could blend in with the sky appeared, wings covering its body. (ATK 700)(DEF 1700) "And when he's successfully flip summoned, you take 1000 damage to your life points!" Sharp feathers shot from the bird and hit Terry in the chest. She hardly reacted as her life points dropped. (TLP 2200). "I'll end with that." Terry drew her card and added it to her hand. "And I don't see how that made the duel as good as you said."

"You'll see now!" the bully shouted lifting his hand in the air after adding his drawn card to his hand. His card flipped up revealing a cemetery. "I reveal my face down, Call of the Haunted! I bring back Malice Doll of Demise!" The doll made a sinister reappearance. "But he and Stealth Bird wont be staying very long, for I sacrifice both of them...!" The monsters disappeared in a whirlwind of dark smoke. "And summon Diabolos, King of the Abyss !" The smoke gathered high above them, and emerging from it was a giant dragon of grey and black and covered in armor. (ATK 2800)(DEF 1000) It gave a loud cry as it flapped its wings, making the smoke disappear.

"Now Diabolos, attack her Valkyria!" The dragon brought its hand down on her, smashing her into many small pieces. (TLP 1000)

"Your beast still can't attack my Cerberus!" Terry mocked. "And after this turn I'll be able to attack, or I might not have to."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You'll just have to see," Terry smirked. She knew this monster well, and she had the right cards out to bring him down.

"Hold on!" the bully shouted as Terry went to draw her next card.

"I can use Diabolos' special effect!" the bully smirked. "I can..."

"It doesn't matter!" Terry interrupted him.

"Huh?" he looked at her confused.

"See, I still have my face down card right here, or have you forgotten?" she said, as the bully's eyes widened. "And you activated it! Go Divine Wrath!"

"Oh, no!!" the bully shouted, putting his hands on his head.

"Oh yes," Terry corrected. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can negate your effect, and your monster is destroyed!" The dragon roared in pain as cracks formed all over its body. In a flash of light it was gone. The bully fell to his knees, in defeat.

"Dude, you still have 3600 life points left!" she shouted angrily. "Get back up! Don't be a wimp! And besides Cerberus' attack points go down."(ATK 2400) The bully stayed there on the ground not looking at her.

"I've never lost Diabolos so easily," he moaned.

"Come on!" Terry sighed. "If your tough enough to pick on little girls, your tough enough to finish a duel!" The bully then hesitantly got up onto his feet.

"Fine," he groaned. "Now finish your turn!"

"With pleasure!" Terry finally drew her card, and smiled as she added it to her hand. This duel is now mine.

"Now! I play Apprentice Magician!" A magician with spiked blonde hair, wearing purple clothes appeared holding a staff. "Now since it was successfully summoned I can add a Spell Counter to any of my cards, and I choose Cerberus!" The magician pointed the staff at the beast and a beam of dark magic floated towards him making him stronger. [ATK 2900 "Next, by removing a dark and a light monster from play, Rapid-Fire Magician and Magician's Valkyria, I can summon Chaos Sorcerer!" A dark aura filled Terry's side of the field. A man with with dark bluish skin emerged, dressed in black with red trimming clothes. A helmet was set on his head with the same colors.(ATK 2300)(DEF2000)

"What good is he going to do?" The bully asked.

"I then play Swords of revealing light!" Terry continued ignoring his question. "Now you can't attack for 3 turns." Cerberus' Attack points rose.[(ATK 3900) "Then I'll use Magic Blast! For every spellcaster on my side of the field, you take 200 life points in damage! Do the math! 3 time 200 is 600!" The bully was struck by a giant ball of pure magic. (BLP 3000) "And Cerberus gains more attack points!" (ATK 4400)

"OK, how does he get 1500 more attack points worth when there's was only 2 spell cards used?" The bully demanded.

"Don't forget Mage Power's effect," Terry said. "Swords of revealing light is still on the field, so it adds 500 more attack points. My turn is now over." The swords around her faded freeing her monsters, also lowering Cerberus' attack points. (ATK 3900) The bully drew his card, and sighed.

"I play Spirit Reaper," a floating skeleton dressed in a purple robe appeared with a long bladed weapon in his hand. "He can't be destroyed in battle, but the damage is still dealt. There isn't anything else I can do, and I end my turn."

Terry drew her card and put it in her other hand.

"Now, Chaos Sorcerer attack Spirit Reaper!" The sorcerer sent a ball of white magic, and of dark magic at the reaper. (BLP 1000)

"Now you Cerberus!" The beast charged and clawed through the reaper, dealing the rest of the damage. (BLP 0) The monsters disappeared, and Terry walked over to the bully.

"You threw away the duel by putting the Spirit Reaper in attack mode," She said looking at him angrily. "If you put him in defense mode I could have kept attacking and dealt no damage.

"But you would have used your Chaos Sorcerer's special ability," the bully objected. "He can destroy one face up monster instead of his regular attack. I would have been delaying the inevitable. Good duel." He put out his hand for her to shake. She only shook her head at him in disappointment and walked away.

"Hey kid," he turned his attention to the little girl. She coward at his sight, and looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This is one tough friend you have." Terry was about to object to that, but the bully jogged away.

"What's going on here?" A teacher emerged from the crowd. His brown hair was pulled in a long ponytail. His grey eyes were covered with a pair of round glasses. He wore a blue over coat and white shirt with black pants.

"It was nothing Mr. Jyra," the little girl said to him. "Just some lunch time fun."

"Make sure it stays that way Miss Daffil," he instructed with a smile. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm not her friend," Tori said, pushing through the crowd of students.

"She's new to the school," the girl. "I just met her."

"Well, I hope you two become good friends," smiled Mr. Jyra. The girl smiled, and ran after Terry.

"Hey! Magician girl!" the girl shouted trying to catch up to Terry.

"You have some pretty impressive card," the girl smiled, falling into line nest to her. Her black hair reached far down her back in its ponytail, and her skirt had more frills then the others, and she wore a fancy ribbon around her neck.

"If only you saw half of my deck," she mumbled. "What do you want?"

"I'm Julia Daffil," she did a small curtsy. "And I just wanted to welcome you to the school." Terry rput her duel disk away, wishing she'd leave her alone.

"And your name?" Julia asked.

"Terry Flank," she sighed, shoving her deck into her back pocket.

"Well, since your not my friend, _could_ you?" she smiled. The girl was only half her size and looked much younger then her.

"Not interested," she said, quickening her pace.

"Oh," Julia sighed. "Well, maybe I'll see ya after school?" _Hopefully you won't_, Terry said silently.

---

Two boys who had watched the match between Holden and the new girl made there way down the hallway in the opposite direction. One had shoulder-length black hair, the other red spiky hair, and a backwards visor. They were the best duelists in the entire school. And right now, the only members of the Zeta Dueling Team. The Annual City wide tournament was happening the middle of February, and they had little over a month to find two more members.

"So you think she'll cut it Cody?" asked the spiky haired boy.

"She's only in grade nine," he objected. "And from what I heard Andrew, she's real violent. She got kicked out of 3 schools already."

"Wow," Andrew laughed. "She's perfect then."

"But she has to qualify first," Cody shook his head.

"Then after school I'll challenge her," Andrew sighed.

"But Andrew, I'm the only one who's ever beat you," Cody laughed. "And that's why we don't have any other members."

"That'll show us then if she'd right," he explained. "You saw how crazy that was with Cerberus constantly getting attack boosts. It was crazy."

"You have an advantage now," Cody said. "You know her strategy."

"But it may not be her only one," Andrew said. "A good duelist always has to have a backup plan."

"True, true," Cody nodded. "Come on, I'm still hungry."

---

Terry was relieved to be able to leave the school. She was at her locker shoving her new text books in her back pack when she heard someone clear there throat as if to get her attention. She looked to see the boy she knocked down earlier. He had a bag of chips in his hand.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she answered rolling her eyes.

"Um, my name is Oscar," he continued. "Oscar Drail."

"And I care because?" she asked rudely, hanging her backpack on one shoulder.

"Um, I thought, since you're new, I'd be polite to you, since your sensitive," he explained.

"I am not sensitive," she snapped. "I'm just not a people person. So stop talking to me." She was about to leave when an annoyingly familiar came flooding down the hallway.

"Hey Terry!" shouted the high-pitched, overexcited voice. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Julia skipping up to her, waving her hand. Terry gave her a cold stare, but it didn't seem to bother her.

"You walking home today?" she asked with a smile.

"None of your business," she said rudely, hoping she'd leave.

"Oh. Who's this?" she smiled, taking no offense to her rudeness.

"Oscar Drail," he introduced.

"I'm Julia Daffil," she nodded. "So.."

"I'll be going now," Terry sighed, tired of all this talking. She headed for the stairs.

"Are you her friend?" Julia asked.

"I tried to be nice, but she keeps brushing me off," Oscar replied, opening his bag of chips.

"Maybe we should try harder," Julia thought out loud.

"Or maybe we should just leave her alone," he suggested. "She obviously doesn't want to be around us." He grabbed a handful of chips and shoved it in his mouth. He offered her the bag.

"Oh, thanks," she smiled taking a few. "We'll rub off on her. We'll try again tomorrow." The two of them proceeded down the stairs.

Terry stalked down the sidewalk as fast as she could, hoping she'd lost the two annoying little people. _Why do they keep bugging me?,_ she wondered. _I be rude, and still they..._

"Terry!" called too voices in unison. Terry pretended not to hear them and quickened her pace.

"Terry! Wait!" it was obviously Julia and Oscar, and they were catching up. She focused on the sidewalk ahead, and wished they'd leave her alone.

"Terry, look out!" they were now shouting. _What the...?_ There was a loud honk, and the sound of screeching tires. She turned her head and saw a yellow convertible was only an inch away from hitting her directly in the leg.

"Watch were your driving you lunatic!" she shouted angrily.

"Well watch when you cross the street!" the driver shouted back. He had shoulder length black hair.

"Terry!" Julia shouted coming up next to her. "Are you hurt?" She touched her arm, and Terry pushed it away.

"Don't touch me!" Terry shouted.

"Oh, your the new girl," said the passenger in realization. His hair was red and spiked.

"So? What's it to you?" she demanded.

"Well, we saw your duel with that bully...," the black haired boy started.

"Just get to the point already," Terry sighed angrily. "I'm tired of all this chit-chat, and there's quite a line-up behind you." She pointed to the row of honking cars that had piled up behind there car.

"Well, we were wondering if you'd like to try-out for the dueling team," finished the red-head. "If your interested come to this address in an hour." He held out a card over his car door. Terry rolled her eyes and walked over to the side of the car, with Julia and Oscar right behind her.

"I'll think about it," she said, snatching the card.

"Move it already!" someone shouted from inside of their car.

"We're moving!" shouted the black-haired boy before zooming off.

"Terry!" Julia gasped from behind her. "Do you know who those guys were?"

"Probably really annoying, like you guys," she snapped, waiting for all the cars to pass.

"Vewe, fuee," Oscar mumbled through a mouthful of chips. Terry sighed in disgust.

"Well, they're actually the best duelists in the entire school!" Julia grinned. "And they challenged you! That's a great honor."

"Oh yeah, I'm jumping for joy," she said sarcastically. The last car finally past and Terry quickly made her way across the road.

"Wait for us!" Julia shouted.

"NO!" Terry shouted angrily, turning around to find the duo behind her. "YOU will go home, and leave me ALONE!"

"B-but..." Oscar stuttered before swallowing. "...We live this way."

"Then walk on that side of the street!" she growled pointing.

"But there's no sidewalk," Julia pretended to pout.

"Then walk 20 feet behind me!" she huffed, spinning around and stomping away as fast as she could, adjusting her base ball cap.

"Still think we'll rub off no her?" Oscar sighed, digging farther into his chip bag.

"Of course," Julia smiled beginning to walk. "It just takes time."


	2. Level Up!

Chapter 2: Level up!

"Hi Teresa!" Jennifer shouted when she heard as she heard Terry walk through the front door. Terry gritted her teeth as she walked through the living room. She hated being called Teresa.

"How was your first day of school?" she asked. Terry found her in the kitchen cooking.

"I won a duel today," she shrugged, slipping off her shoes and kicking them into the corner.

"Oh, you made friends?" her voice sounded surprise and excited.

"No, just another rival," she rolled her eyes and headed for the stairs.

"Oh," her voice gave vibes of disappointment. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour."

"I'll be gone by then," Terry said, slowly walking up the stairs.

"And what for Missy?" her mom demanded, not sounding happy.

"I'm dueling someone," she shouted down the stairs.

"And why?" her mother demanded louder.

"Because I was offered a slot on the dueling team!" she answered even louder.

"Well, what if I won't let you?" her mother threatened.

"Then I will move out, and never eat another meal cooked by you!" she snapped, now at the top of the stairs. "Besides, you want me to make..._friends_."

"Don't talk to me like that young lady," her mother warned. Terry huffed, and slammed her bedroom door shut when she entered. Her room was a messy place. Clothes laying here, cards piled there. Random things scattered everywhere on the floor, her shelves, and desk. _I hate how she wants me to be someone I'm not,_ she raged silently. _Why can't she let me act the way I want to, and stop expecting a lot from me. _

She dropped her backpack next to her bed, and grabbed a big tin off of her shelf before plopping down on her bed. She opened the tin and grabbed a stack of cards that was held together by an elastic. Silently she shuffled through them, trying to add cards that would help her win the duel. Being on the duel team would allow her to show everyone the champion she really was, not a loser girl who just liked to show off the cuteness of her cards. Thinking about made her mind wander...

_"How's your Deck coming?"_

_"It's OK I guess, I need better cards! Real strong ones that can take you out in one attack!"_

_"Terry, a deck isn't based on strong monsters, but strong cards."_

_"Aren't they the same?"_

_"No, just because a monster is strong, doesn't mean its very good. You need great strategy._

_"I'll wing it!"_

_"Well how can you wing it if you don't have to suitable cards in your deck."_

_"I just can."_

_"OK dear. So, did you fill your deck with cute monsters like Kuriboh?"_

_"Didn't you just tell me its not all about strong monsters?"_

_"Yes..."_

_"Well, then it can't be all about cute ones either."_

_"You right. Haha. Your really smart."_

_"I'd like to think so."_

----

"Julia," Oscar groaned as his stomach began to make weird noises.

"Shhh!" she hissed. "Someone might hear us!" The two of them were hiding in a tree just down the street from where they saw Terry enter a house.

"I'm hungry!" he groaned again. "I've never gone this long without eating before."

"You just finished a whole bag of carrot sticks!" she looked at him in disbelief.

"But it wasn't enough," he whined. "I'm telling you, my stomachs a monster, it eats whatever I get it as soon as it gets it. I wanna go home to get something."

"No!" Julia protested. "We have to wait, and follow Terry to her duel."

"And _why_ do we have to?" Oscar asked, twirling a leaf between his fingers. It was starting to look tasty.

"Because, once she sees we're dedicated friends, and really respect her, she'll finally accept us as friends," Julia looked up at the sky, brimming with optimism and hope.

"And how is stalking her, and nagging her show we're respectful?" he asked, now staring at the leaf, his mouth watering. "If we were respecting her we'd just leave her alone." He saw the leaf now as a guacamole-flavored chip. He loved guacamole.

"She just doesn't know how much she wants around yet," she said loud and proud. "She will once we hang around her a lot. Then she'll know the feeling of having close friends. Julia sighed loudly, and looked at the house.

"Wonder when she'll come out," she thought out loud.

"Yo bewief sytem amaze me," Oscar mumbled. Julia turned to look at him in disgust.

"What are you eating now?!" she demanded.

"Guacamole," he sighed with joy, putting another leaf in his mouth.

"Aw, gross," she gaged, looking away just in time to see Terry leaving the house.

"Let's go!" she ordered, placing feet on the branch below, before taking a small leap and awkwardly landing on the ground.

"Ah!" Oscar was lazy and just through himself off, landing flat on his back.

"Let's go Leaf muncher," Julia ordered, pulling him to his feet by his ear.

"OW! OW! OW!" he cried.

"SHHHH!!!" she hissed, fixing her backpack on her back. "Terry will see us. Now, let's quietly follow."

----

Terry made her way down the street in a fresh change of clothes, and a small duffle over her shoulder. Her long brown hair was in a ponytail, a bandana was tied over her head with some hair in her face, she wore a red jacket with the sleeves pushed passed her shoulders over a white shirt, and black jeans. For her entire walk she had this odd feeling she was being watched, and constantly looked over her shoulder. Little did she know Julia and Oscar were following her with great difficulty. They almost were seen once or twice. She continued in silence, running through the strategies she could use to beat her challenger...what was his name? She didn't catch it. Not like it mattered.

Just when she thought that she was missed the place, she came to a gigantic iron gate, with a giant brick wall wrapped around what was inside. Inside was a millionaire worthy property. There was a huge house with many floors. She wondered what was on the other side of it.

"State your business," said a monotone voice. She looked around and found an intercom. She pressed the red button and spoke into the speaker.

"I'm here because I was challenged to a duel," she said, not sound at all polite.

"By whom?" he asked.

"By some kid with spike red hair, how am I suppose to now?" she shouted at him.

"Ah, the new girl," he said as in realization. "Please, do come in." There was a buzzer, and the gates slowly opened. Terry stomped towards the big house, not intimidated at all by its size, or how expensive it might have been.

---

"Hurry!" Julia hissed, quickly marching over to the gate that was now slowly closing.

"This isn't right!" Oscar objected. "We're breaking an entry!"

"_We_ aren't breaking anything!" she snapped, running through the gate. Oscar barely made it through as well.

Hide!" she hissed pushing him into the bushes. She saw Terry turn around and look around in suspicion, before entering the house.

"We're going to get caught!" Oscar moaned, pushing Julia off of him.

"It'll be OK," she assured him.

---

Little did they know in the security office, somewhere hidden on the property, they were seen sneaking in on a hidden camera. A man sitting at the desk picked up a phone and dialed a four digit number.

"I need security at the gates," he said urgently. "Two unauthorized personal have entered and are hiding in the bushes."

"Already on there way," answered a man on the other line. "Keep a visual and update."

"Will do." he nodded, putting the phone down. He then reached for a Walkie-Talkie.

"This is Hawk 3 and 4 heading for the gate," came a female voice.

"Roger Hawk 3," he answered. "They haven't moved yet...wait, they're heading for the front door."

"On our way," she said, sounding as if she was now running.

---

"Do you think its wise to walk right through the front door?" Oscar asked shaking. "There must be cameras everywhere."

"Goodness Oscar," Julia laughed. "This isn't a movie..." She stopped laughing when she opened the door to find a lady in a black suit with sunglass on standing there.

"Your busted," she said reaching out to grab there clothes. The two kids screamed, and spun around to try and dash away. By the time they made it down the steps, a big muscular man was there, and picked them up by there backpacks.

"Going somewhere?" he asked a satisfied grin.

"No, Julia it isn't a movie," Oscar gritted his teeth. "But rich people still have security!" Julia made fake laugh, and lowered her head with a depressing sigh.

---

Terry was being escorted down a very long hallway by a maid in a blue uniform. It was a typical uniform, simple shirt and skirt, apron, and that maid hat they wear. The hallway was decorated by various paintings, small tables with plants on them, and a pretty green rug that ran all the way down that large hallway. It was dimly lit by fancy lamps that were sticking out of the walls.

"Where are we going?" Terry asked.

"Out to the verandah," the maid smiled. "Master Andrew and his friend Cody are waiting for you there." _So that's what there names are_, she thought. _Don't sound like names of champions._

She continued to follow her until they came to a large clear sliding door. The maid slid it opened, and stepped aside and ushered her through, following. The veranda was a nice place. It had a nice view of a huge rectangular pool, a basketball court, tennis court and a large garden. Lawn chairs were scattered with umbrellas over them. There was a large table that was covered with food, with matching chairs, where two boys were sitting at.

"Your company is here," the maid announced doing bowing her head a bit. They looked over at her with surprised looks.

"Thank you Gena," the red-head smiled. "You can go now." The maid dipped her head again before going back into the house.

"Told you she'd come," he said, punching his friend in the shoulder.

"So who am I dueling?" Terry asked.

"That would be me," he said raising his hand. "I'm Andrew Junic, and that's Cody Kyndri."

"And you are?" Cody asked.

"Terry Flank," she sighed. "Now can I get my win done and over with?"

"Little cocky there aren't we?" Andrew laughed.

"I will beat you," Terry snapped. "I came here to duel not chat."

"You don't want anything to eat first?" Cody asked a bit confused.

"I sure do!" shouted a familiar voice. Two body guards came over to them with two kids in their grasp, the lady pulling a girl by her arm, the man carrying a boy with one arm.

"We found these two sneaking in," said the lady.

"Were you following me!" Terry shouted angrily, staring down Julia and Oscar with daggers.

"Yes...," Julia sighed, facing the ground.

"You know these two?" asked the man body guard.

"Yeah, the two pains in my side," Terry huffed.

"We'll dispose of them then-,"

"Actually," Andrew interrupted. "They can stay."

"What?!" everyone shouted in shock.

"Yeah, I hardly ever have company other then Cody," he smiled. "It would be nice to have an audience. You can let them go Dorice." The lady guard let go of Julia, wile the man dropped Oscar on his face.

"Now who's cocky," Terry muttered under her breath. _An audience...ha!_

"YAY!" Oscar shouted, diving desperately for the table of heaven. "FOOD!" Without hesitation he shoved down half a dozen finger sandwich.

"Wow, thanks," Julia smiled, with a gleam in her eye. " I hope you win Terry." Terry looked away from her.

"So we don't get to boot 'em over the wall?" the man asked in disappointment.

"Not this time Jerry," the lady sighed. "Good day Master Andrew." The two of them made there way around the house.

"Now can we start?" Terry growled. "I'll leave of we don't."

"Fine, fine," Andrew said, taking a duel disk from below the table. Tori opened up her duffle and pulled out hers. She took off her duffle bag and placed it on a chair. The two of them walked out onto a clear space of green grass. Julia took a spot next to Oscar who was now eating an apple, and almost ate the core as well.

"You ready?" Andrew asked, sliding in his shuffled deck, making his duel disk open. (ALP 4000)

"For you to lose," she snapped, putting her deck in. (TLP 4000)

"DEUL!"

"Ladies first?" he offered. Terry drew her sixth card. "I'll play Blast Magician in attack mode!" A magician appeared out of a blast of purplish smoke, wearing red clothes and a tall red hat covering his eyes. He heald a sharp weapon in his left hand.(ATK 1400)(DEF 1700)

"I'm done," she said.

"OK, my turn," Andrew said drawing his sixth. "I'll use Card Destruction!" A card materialized with a hand throwing away cards. "Now we both-"

"I know what it means," Terry interrupted rudely, putting her hand into the graveyard and getting 5 new cards.

"I'll summon Queen's Bodyguard in attack mode!" Andrew announced placing a card on his disk. Three men holding swords and wearing masks came out of nowhere and stood guard.

"Why would he do that?" Julia asked. "You only summon them so Allure Queen can't be attacked, and he doesn't have her out."

"Watch," Cody said with a smile.

"Next I'll use Level Modulation!" Andrew said as a card with hand and five dice appeared. "You get to pick 2 cards, and I get to summon a monster with Lv. in it's name form my Graveyard."

"I'm assuming it's Allure Queen?" Terry pretended to take a wild guess, as she drew 2 cards. Andrew nodded as the card broke and there stood a lady with super short brown hair wearing a black and magenta dress, holding a small staff. Andrew didn't notice a spell counter appear on Blast Magician's weapon. (ATK 500)(DEF 500)"Allure Queen Lv. 3!"

"Now, attack Blast Magician!" Andrew ordered, and the three men charged at the magician.

"I activate my Blast Magician's special ability!" Terry shouted before they came into impacted causing smoke. The smoke cleared and the bodyguards stood triumphantly. (TLP 3700)

"I don't get it," Andrew said confused. "You still...HEY!" His Allure Queen was missing.

"By using Level Modulator, my Blast Magician was equipped with a spell counter," she explained. "And by removing it, I could destroy any monster with ATK points lower then the number of spell counters x 700. And your Queen was lower with only 500."

"YAY!" Julia shouted. "Good job."

"Quiet!" Terry shouted. "I take it your turn is done?" Andrew nodded and placed a face down before Terry drew her next card.

"Why did you tell her to quiet?" Andrew asked. "She's your cheering section."

"I don't need one," she snapped. "I'll summon Mythical Beast Cerberus!" The two headed beast jumped out of a seal that appeared on the ground with a loud roar. _Is this what I think it is?_, Andrew wondered.

"Next I'll equip him with Mage Power!" she held out a card, and before she could play it, Andrew's face up stood.

"Magic Jammer," he smiled. "It negates your activation when I discard 1 card.

"Spell Absorbtions then," Tery shrugged. "Every time a spell is activated I gain 500 life points, and Cerberus gains attack points!" The beast roared as its power grew when a spell counter appeared on his body. (ATK 1900) "Now attack his Bodyguards!" Cerberus leaped into the air and came down hard, clawing all three men. (ALP 3800) (ATK 1400)

"But Cerberus' power goes down," Andrew pointed out.

"Until I play this!" she put another card on her disk. "Reload! I can now return my cards for new ones!" She put her four cards into her deck and shuffled it before replacing it and drawing four new ones.(ATK 1900)(TLP 4200)

"You're turn," she said.

"Nothing special has happened yet!" Julia whined.

"Give it time," Cody said. "Andrew's going to so win. He reached for a sandwich, but Oscar snatched it up and shoved it in his mouth her realized what happened.

"Dude, you eat a lot," Cody looked at him strangely. Oscar shrugged and chewed away.

Andrew drew his next card and smiled. "I'll play Heavy Storm!" A storm quickly rolled in, destroying Spell Absorption, but increasing Cerberus' attack points. (ATK 2400)

"I'll play this face down, and end my turn," he said with an angry look.

"WHAT!?" Oscar, Julia and Cody shouted, jumping to their feet.

"Are you crazy?" Julia demanded.

"Man, he must not have any monsters," Cody sighed, as Terry drew her card. "I'll place a card face down, and put a monster in facedown defense. Now Cerberus, attack him directly!" Cerberus charged towards Andrew with a loud battle cry. A suit of dark then appeared in front of him. When Cerberus came into contact with it, he was destroyed immediately.

"What?" Terry gasped.

"Sakuretsu Armor," Andrew laughed. "You walked right into that one. Nice poker face eh?"

"Good one Andrew!" Cody congratulated.

"That was a dirty trick!" Julia objected.

"Calm, down its just a game," Cody said.

"How do you expect me to calm down!" she demanded.

"Julia put a sock in it!" Terry ordered. "I'll end my turn."

"I'll play Pot of Greed!" Andrew flashed his newly drawn card and drew 2 more. "Next I'll summon Armed Dragon LV3!" And orange dragon materialized in front of him and gave a small roar.(ATK 1200)(DEF 900) "And then use Monster reborn! To bring back a card from my first round, Horus the Black Flame Dragon lv. 6!" Shining lights began to shine, and a metallic dragon with the head of a hawk appeared amongst them. He flapped his wings to stay above the playing field.(ATK 2300)(DEF 1600)

"First, Horus attack the face down monster!" Andrew ordered. The dragon swooped down, claws extended and destroyed the small magician effortlessly. A card then came out of Terry's graveyard.

"That was Magician of Faith, case you were wondering," she said adding a card from her graveyard to her hand. "You'll find what it is soon."

"That'd be nice," Andrew smiled. "Now Armored Dragon, attack her directly!" The Little dragon took flight, and dove right into her, causing her to grunt in pain. (TLP 3000) "My turn's over." He smiled as Horus began to grow, and become stronger.(ATK 3000)(DEF 1800)

"Wow, level 8!" Oscar gapped showing the chew up food in his mouth.

"Manners Oscar!" Julia cried. "Please tell me you at least have that?"

"One attack from my Horus, and you'll be toast," Andrew laughed. "Tell me you'll put up a good last fight."

"I told you," Terry snapped. "I'm winning this." She drew her card and smirked. "And I have. I'll now play Pot of Greed."

"Horus' effect will stop that," Andrew interrupted.

"But it activates my face down, Divine Wrath," Terry smirked. Horus let out a cry of pain as he began to crack.

"What?" Andrew demanded.

"Guess you didn't see that coming now did yeah?" Terry said folding her arms. "It negates your monster's effect and destroys him." With that he blew up, leaving Armed Dragon by himself. "Pulled the same trick on Holden."

"Yeah Terry!" Julia cheered. Oscar just held up a peace sign as he munched on a grapefruit.

"I'll play another Pot of Greed!"Terry shouted after pulling out 2 cards. "Then summon Breaker the Magical Warrior!" A magician with a sword and shield at hand appeared in front of her, dressed in red and gold. "Next I'll play Premature Burial! I'll pay 800 hundred life points an order to bring back a monster from my first hand. Mystical Elf!"(TLP 2200) A red seal shone brightly on the ground in front of her, a very tall elf with blue skin, long brown hair and in a green dress, slowly emerged.(ATK 800)(DEF 2000)

"Last I'll play Incandescent Ordeal!" Terry announced slapping the card on her disk

"That's a ritual summon!" Cody shouted.

"For what?" Julia wondered.

"And by sacrificing Breaker, and Mystical Elf, I ritual summon Legendary Flame Lord!" Flames burst out of the ground consuming the two spell casters. Things began to heat up, and Terry's hair flew in the breeze of power.. A man with torn clothes and cape, and a long scepter in his hand. His hair was as fire itself. The flames around him died down, but didn't vanish completely.(ATK 2400)(DEF 2000)

"Wow!" Oscar shouted after swallowing. "That is one cool guy."

"Andrew will still have some life points when she's done," Cody pointed out. "She hasn't won yet."

"I'm not done yet!" Terry snapped. "Now shut up and let me finish! I'll then equip him with two cards! Book of Dark Secrets boots his attack by 300!" A book appeared before the Flame lord and he began to flip through the pages, his power growing. (ATK 2700) "And then Mage power! He gains 500 attack points for every spell and trap card on my side of the field. And that's two cards, so 1000 points!" (ATK 3700)

"He'll still have life points left," Cody whispered to them, hoping Terry didn't hear.

"Man, you sure know how to go all out," Andrew laughed. "You only have one card left in your hand."

"And it'll be the last one I use this duel," she said. "It's Monster Reborn!" The card materialized in front of her before exploding and Cerberus emerged with a triumphant roar.

"Holy..." Cody stared in amazement. "Did she arrange that?"

"Nope," Julia smiled. "It's all skill."

"OK!" Terry shouted. "Cerberus, attack Armed Dragon!" Instantly the mighty beast lunged forward destroying the dragon instantly. (ALP 3600)

"Now, Flame Lord! Finish him off!" Terry folded her arms casually as the Flame Lord sent flames soaring towards Andrew with his scepter. Andrew was pushed off his feet by the force and landed flat on his back. (ALP 0) The holograms disappeared and Terry returned her deck to her pocket.

"YAY!" Julia cheered.

"Will you quit saying 'yay' and 'yeah'?" Terry sighed angrily.

"Andrew you OK?" Cody asked running over to him. He hadn't moved.

"Yeah," he grunted, slowly sitting back. "That was hot."

"I take it I made the team?" Terry asked walking towards the door.

"Yes, you did," Andrew nodded standing up. "What, you leaving already?"

"I don't need to be hear any longer, so yeah," she said sliding the glass door open.

"Wait for me!" Julia said running up behind her.

"NO!" Terry shouted. "I don't have to. And I don't want to. Matter a fact, I don't want you any where near me. Now leave me alone!" She made her way down the hallway without another world, leaving the others confused.

"How could she beat you?" demanded folding his arms. "You didn't play with a clear strategy."

"I never do," Andrew sighed. "But she's good. I wonder how she was able to get all those cards for the end."

"I don't know," Cody shrugged. "Maybe it was just luck?"

"Maybe," Andrew said sitting down at the table. He picked up a bowl, thinking he'd be able to snack on a few fruits, but found it was empty.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Who...?" he looked over at Oscar, whose face was smeared with fruit juice. He only grinned.

"Well, we don't need an audience anymore," Andrew started.

"Then we'll leave!" Julia smiled, grabbing Oscar's arm. "Let's go!"  
"Hey, hey! Slow down!" he cried as he was pulled into the house. He tripped on his way in, and fell flat on his face. Andrew and Cody made weird faces.

"I'm OK," he groaned before Julia began to drag him across the floor on his face.

"They are one weird couple," Cody said, shaking his head.

---

"Get out of my store and stay out!" A big woman with a bat threatened as she chased to teenagers out of her store. The boy was dark-skinned, and had black hair that was short in the back, and long in the front. A pair of sun glass sat on his head, and he wore torn jeans and a scruffy jacket. The girl was white, and had blue-streaked pink hair that was up in two ponytails. She wore almost the same as the boy, and her jewelery was all made of candy. They ran out of the cheap store and dashed down the street, laughing hysterically.

"Alright!" the boy shouted when they turned into an alley. "Another store we're band from!"

"What's that now? Thirteen?" the girl asked, bitting off a piece of her candy bracelet.

"Fourteen," he grinned with satisfaction. "Where shall we hit next?"

"I need some more candy," the girls said. "I'm running low."

"OK," he nodded. "Jewl's Shack it is." The boy stepped out of the alley, nearly knocked over by another person.

"Ouch!" he cried. "Hey watch it...Oh! Hey Terry." He smiled at the girl who was only a couple inches shorter then him.

"Bye Jurel," she snapped trying to walk around him.

"Come on," he said stepping in front of her again. "Don't be like that."

"I've already had enough losers following me today," she warned. "I don't need anymore."

"Tough first day at the new school?" the girl asked, joining Jurel.

"Go away, Candy," Terry sighed. "BOTH of you." She stepped around them and marched down the street.

"Make anyone cry?" Jurel asked, keeping up with her.

"Make any rivals?" Candy wondered out loud.

"Wanna pound anybody ri-"

"YOU!" Terry shouted angrily, turning to face them. These two were major pains in her side. They went to Terry's first school, Omega High School. The only High School where you don't have to where uniforms. They were both Non-Duelists. They thought it was overrated. They were part of the influence that made Terry want to fight physically then with Duel Monsters. It was cause of them she was suspended the first time.

"Someone's a bit grumpy," Candy laughed.

"Very irritated," she corrected. "And I don't want to talk about it. Especially with you guys." She turned around to leave, but Jurel was faster and towered over her again.

"You never wanna talk to anyone," he said. "Common, lay your problems on me." He put his arm around her shoulder, and she shrugged it off.

"You jerk," she snapped. "Don't touch me!" She marched off again, and this time they let her go.

---

"We've got three members on the Dueling Team now," Andrew said into the phone.

"Why that's wonderful," his dad, Larry answered sounding very interested on the other end of the line. "And who is this new member?"

"Her name is Terry Flank," he said. "She's really short tempered though. Like, really really short." _And not that bad looking_, he added silently.

"Well is she a good duelist?" he asked.

"Yeah, she beat me," he nodded.

"Well your easy to beat," Larry laughed. "You never have a strategy. You just use what ever cards come to you."

"Sh!" Andrew hissed. "Don't let it get to everyone."

"Don't worry," Larry assured. "Your secrets safe with me. So all you need is a fourth member?"

"Yeah, then we could enter the tournament next month, but-,"

"No one's that good," Larry finished. "I know, I know. Its the same excuse every time. your so picky. Just pick someone who you think will be good enough."

"But our school's never had great duelists," Andrew object.

"Well Terry seems to be amazing," he said. "You, her and Cody are all amazing. You just need a fourth to fill in the spot. It doesn't matter who it is.

"But that person at least needs to know how to duel," Andrew objected.

"Then hold try-outs," Larry suggested. "You've never really done that before I know, but just pair up people who sign up, observe them, and chose a person." Andrew thought about it for a few long seconds.

"That's...," he began. "Not a bad idea. I'll chose whoever the team thinks has a great dueling style."

"Great," his dad approved. "Now I've got to go now. I'll call again on Saturday."

"OK," Andrew sighed. "Bye dad."

"Bye son."


	3. The Fourth Member!

Chapter 3: The Fourth Member!

It was a brand new day, and Julia and Oscar had arrived at school over 2 hours early. They didn't want to miss Terry, and hoped to get in a bit of friendly chat(Well, Julia did anyways, Oscar was just being dragged along).

"You're a crazy woman," Oscar sighed, taking a big bit out of his triple cheeseburger.

"I'm not crazy," Julia snapped, leading him down the hallway. "I just want to make sure we don't miss Terry. From her performance she most likely doesn't want us around."

"Then why do you insist on continuing to bug her?" he asked, truly believing she was bonkers.

"You know why," she hissed. "I keep telling all the time. So she'll be use to us around and will want us around all the time." We'll only push her away farther..., Oscar sighed silently chewing on the remains of his burger.

"What's this?" Julia asked walking up to a bulletin board. Oscar walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder.

"Wanted! Final Member of the Dueling Team!" Julia read excitedly. "Try outs starting after school Friday! That's Today! I wanna try out"

"That would be cool," Oscar nodded. "If you had a deck." Julia lowered her head in disappointment.

"Awe, I forgot about that!" she whined.

"What ever happened to your deck anyways?" Oscar asked.

"Well, to make a long story short," she explained. "My sister had a Harpie Deck, then I wanted one. When I got one, she didn't want us having the same one. So we dueled to see who deserved it, and she won."

"Wow," he said. "And you never got another one?"

"Nope," she sighed, her eyes became bright and watery. "My desire belongs to Harpies." Oscar just blinked at her in confusion.

"Maybe you could have a Harpie deck...," he thought out loud. "that's not exactly a Harpie Deck." Now Julia was the one looking confused.

"How is that so?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, I've heard of these new Harpie monsters," he began.

"Say no more!" she shouted. "Take me to them!"

"W-well I," he stuttered.

"No excuses!" she ordered. "We have 2 hours to make me a deck! I still have some remains of my old deck. We need those monster!" With that, she dragged Oscar back out of the school.

---

Terry was making her way through the hallways, hoping she could get to her locker and leave before Oscar came. She know figured where he was, Julia would certainly be there. To her relief they weren't there. As quickly as she could she put her backpack inside and took out her books. As she made her way to her first class her attention was drawn to a group of students crowded around a bulletin board. Intrigued she walked up to someone near the back of the crowd.

"What's going on?" she asked. The kid turned around and looked up at her.

"There's going to be try-outs for the Dueling team after school," he explained. "They need one more member." She nodded and continued on her way. Just when she was about to enter her classroom someone stepped in the door way from inside.

"Howdy!" It was a girl. She was about an inch taller then Terry. She wore a cowboy hat, with a long blue ponytail coming out the back, and chin length parted bangs. Her uniform was different from the other girls'. She wore a longer skirt with a slit on the side, she wore a purple jacket over her shirt with tassels up the sleeves and on the front of the jacket, as well as knee-high cowboy boots. . Terry looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. The girl began to laugh hysterically.

"I'm sorry," she giggled. "Ya must be thinking I'm from down south, but I ain't. No worries." Terry stared at her with a blank expression.

"But I have rode a wild bull once," she continued. "Stayed on for 10 seconds. Ya know y'all only s'ppose to stay on for 8, but I thought I'd take a crack at stayin' on longer then needed. I also own a bull. Cracker Jack. Yup, that's what I named him. My favorite snack. I love him like a mother cat with her newly born litter, even though he is far from a young kit-"

"Can you move?" Terry interrupted rudely. She didn't get this girl. She said she wasn't from down south, yet she sounded like it, plus she was getting on her last nerves.

"Oh, I'm sorry 'bout that," she laughed stepping aside. "I can really ramble on sometimes. Say, are ya tryin' out for the Dueling Team? They only have one slot left, an' if you were, I doubt ya'd make, 'cause I'm sure to win it-"

"I'm already on the Duel team OK?" Terry shouted, turning to face her with narrowed eyes. "Now will you quit talking to me, and leave me alone!" She dropped her stuff on a desk and sat in the seat behind it.

"Well, then I guess I'll be goin'," the girl smiled before leaving. Terry sighed in relief, and dropped her head on the desk.

---

The final bell rang, signaling school was finished. Oscar began to hyperventilate, in complete horror. He'd missed the entire day of school! He'd never missed a minute of school before in his entire life. The shock made him forget about eating, and went crazy trying to breathe right again.

"What's bugging you now?" Julia demanded looking down at the poor sight. He was laying on his back, eyes swirling, face very pale.

"I skipped school," he whispered breathe slowing down a bit.

"Oh, suck it up!" she sighed. "Besides it was for a good cause. Thanks to you, and that major scavenger hunt, we made me a deck!"

"No deck is worth skipping school!" he objected sitting up.

"Oh, but mine is," she corrected. "Now get up, I have a try-out to go to." She grabbed Oscar's ear and pulled him to his feet, and towards the school.

"OW!" he cried several times over.

---

It was Terry's job to help judge the try-outs. She really didn't want to, but she was only heading to the gym to see how lame the other duelist were. When she enter the Gymnasium she expected it to be jam-pack with hopefuls. To her surprise, it was totally barren. She looked around confused, until she saw a familiar purple cowboy hat amongst the navy blue seats. Her steps echoed as she walked along the stands, until finally the cowgirl noticed her.

"Well, howdy partner," she grinned. "Ain't this somthin'? No one else showed up."

"I find that hard to believe," Terry said, folding her arms. "All day people were talking about it, and saying how they were so gonna make it."

"OK!" she shouted with a smile, jumping to her feet. "Ya got me. I bribed all the other students not to tryout with rare cards and money. I'm that desperate to join. I figured an easy way to get on was by default."

"Hey! Where is everyone?" Andrew and Cody came into the gym with shocked looks.

"I thought for sure this would have drawn a huge crowd," Andrew sighed in disappointment.

"I'm hear!" the cowgirl yelled excitedly waving her arms in the air.

"She's the only one here?" Cody asked, with a scared look.

"Yessir," she confirmed tipping her hat.

"W-well...sh-she can't join with out a duel," Andrew stammered. He too looked afraid.

"What's your deal?" Terry asked in a low voice approaching them.

"Meet Alien," Cody shivered.

"Alein," Andrew corrected.

"It don't matter, she's still weird," Cody hissed.

"You see, she has..," Andrew searched for the right words. "Multiple identity issues."

"Yeah, she came to school one day dressed up like Elvis, and called her self 'The Queen'," Cody shivered at the thought.

"And good thing she's graduating this year," Andrew sighed. "I had to suffer with her for four years," Cody said, folding his arms. "It wasn't fun."

"You three consulting each other on the decision of letting me on the team?" Alein asked from her high seat.

"She can't join," Cody hissed. "I will not allow it."

"But there's no one else hear," Terry pointed out. "Just let her join."

"Not without her dueling," Andrew objected.

"Then duel her," Terry snapped. "I have places to be ya know."

"But-"

"Hold everything!" The doors busted open, and a bright light shone through. Amidst it was a small feminine figure holding something up in the air.

"I am here to join the Dueling Team!" she announced proudly. She was about to step forward when someone ran into her from behind and they both fell flat on there faces. The others in the gym stared blankly. The doors closed, and there on the floor was Julia and Oscar.

"Thanks a lot Oscar!" Julia shouted, pushing off. "You ruined my grand entrance!"

"I had to go grab a pita wrap, and I thought I missed it," he apologized, rubbing the back of his head. Julia stood up and cleared her throat, ready make the announcement when she froze, and stared around the near empty room. It was so quiet that they heard a cricket.

"No one's here?" she shouted.

"I am!" Alein called jumping down the seats. "People keeps forgetin' that I am."

"I thought you didn't have a deck?" Terry asked.

"Well, I finally got another one," she lifted her chin with pride. "And I'm here to duel!"

"How 'bout takin' this here rare card and scattin'?" Alein offered appearing right in her face. Julia jumped back and tripped over Oscar, who hadn't gotten up yet.

"So its official!" Andrew announced. "Julia and Alein will duel?"

"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted in disbelief.

"Really?" Julia cheered. "Yay! I'm gonna duel!" She jumped up and down excitement.

---

A few minutes later, Julia and Alein stood on either side of gym, with duel disks on their arms, and decks shuffled. Terry, Oscar, Andrew and Cody sat in the stands with a perfect view of both field. Andrew took out a pad an paper to take notes, Cody did the same, Terry slouched in her seat, and Oscar ate his pita wrap.

"Ya ready shorty?" Alein asked drawing 5 cards. (ALP 4000)

"Yup," Julia nodded, taking no offense to being called shorty. (JLP 4000)

"DUEL!"

"You can go first," Alein offered.

"OK," Julia smiled, snapping her 6th card and adding it to her hand. "Um...I'll summon Harpie Chick - Rose!" A bright pink light sprung from the ground in front of her and out came a Harpie the size of Julia. She had light pink hair that had major curls, and hot pink wings.(ATK 500)(DEF 500)

"Never seen her before," Andrew said leaning forward to get a better look.

"Took us forever to find her," Oscar sighed.

"You mean all day?" Terry corrected.

"How's you know?" he asked.

"Come on," she said. "You guys are always following and bugging me. You think I wouldn't notice." Oscar lowered his head in shame.

"And I'll activate her effect!" Julia declared. "If she's the only one out on the field, then I can Special Summon another from my Deck or hand." She pulled out her deck and shuffled through the cards. "And I'll chose Harpie Chick - Aqua!" She slammed the card down on the disk after shuffling and returning her deck. An aqua light shot out next to Rose, and a Harpie with aquamarine hair up in a bun, and aqua wings sprung out.(ATK 500)(DEF 500)

"Kinda weak monster," Alein said. "Tell me you can do better."

"Yup," Julia nodded. "It just so happens I have this spell card that'll increase there attack points. And I'll use it right now. Duo Chick Beam!" A card materialized in front of Julia with the two Harpie Chicks forming a powerful ray. "Now, each Harpie Chick gains 500 attack points,"(ATK 1000 each) "and then they're able to attack you directly."

"What?" Everyone in the stands shouted.

"I know eh?" Julia smiled. "Cool huh? They'll deal damage equal to half of their combined attack points." The two Harpie Chicks jumped up into the air and began to spin creating aqua and rose lights. The clashed together and dove towards Alein. Alein grunted as she was struck, and regaining themselves, the Harpie Chicks flew over to Julia's side. (ALP 3000)

"Whoa, what a rush!" Alein laughed. "That was kinda fun. What a cool move."

"Thank you," Julia grinned. "I'll end my turn with a face down."

"Alrighty," Alein smiled, pulling out her 6th card. "I'll summon Alien Infiltrator!" Sparks shot out of the ground to the far right of her, and a gray alien with muscle, and tentacles for arms appeared. (ATK 800)(DEF 500)

"Why am I not surprised?" Cody sighed.

"Cause she acts like an alien?" Oscar offered a guess to his question.

"I'm being sarcastic," he sighed again, lowering his head.

"Why'd you put him way over there?" Julia asked, rubbing her chin in confusion.

"So I can use his effect," Alein smiled. "See, if there's no Monster, Trap, or Spell in the same column he's in, he can attack you directly."

"Oh," Julia nodded in understanding, then gasped when the Alien made a mad dash towards her.

"Take my life points, but don't hurt me!" She cried, holding her arms up in front of her face. The alien slid to a stop in front of her and only nudged her before returning. (JLP 3200) Those in the stands only blinked with blank faces.

"What a weirdo," Terry sighed shaking her head.

"OK," Alein said slowly. "I know use Corruption Cell "A"!" A gross leechy thing sprung out from the card and landed on Rose.

"AH!" Julia shouted. "What's that?"

"And A-Counter," Alein explained. "You'll learn its effects later."

"Those look like trouble," Oscar said swallowing his last piece of food.

"I'll end my turn with this hear face down," Alein grinned, tipping her hat. "Your turn." Julia drew her card and added it to her hand with uncertainty.

"I'll play a Spell card called Chick Hatchling!" Julia announced slapping a card on her disk. A small egg appeared on the far side of the field in front of the Alien Infiltrator. (ATK 0)(DEF 1200)

"What is that there critter?" Alein asked.

"It's A Chick Token," Julia answered, thinking of her next move. "I'll now have my Rose attack your Infiltrator." Rose screeched as she launched forward, claws ready to rip him apart. Before she got near him the A Counter on her arm began to glow, and cause her great pain.

"Huh?" Julia's eyes widened as Rose was destroyed by th infectious little critter causing a wave of destruction, and destroying Aqua as well.

"Whoa!" Andrew shouted, shielding his eyes from the bright light. "What happened there?"

"You activated my trap, Cell Explosion Virus," Alein explained. "By attacking with a monster with an A counter, your monster is destroyed along with every other attack position monster is destroyed."

"Nice," Cody nodded, writing something down.

"I guess I'll end my turn," Julia sighed, lowering her head.

"You can do it!" Oscar shouted. "Don't feel bad. You still have an egg left!"

"Way to give her confidence," Terry sighed.

"Alrighty," Alein said, yanking out her next card. "Alien Infiltrator, you can now chose an open spot." The Infiltrator moved over into an empty column.

"What?" Julia shouted in surprise.

"Yup," Alein smiled. "He can chose any here column thats free once per turn. And now to bring to bring out one of his buddies, Alien Hunter!" She placed a card down, and a reptilian-like creature materialized in front of her, with aqua skin, black armor and an Alien weapon. "Alright, now Infiltrator, attack her directly!" Again the alien took charge and ran at her, only to stop suddenly and nudge her.(JLP 2400) "Now Hunter, crack that little critter!" The Reptile hissed, and jumped into the air. He brought his weapon down on the egg with great force, and a loud cracking sound rang through the gym, and a puff of smoke sprang out. The reptile retreated to Alein's side with satisfaction.

"Now, to continue," Alein began.

"My egg will hatch!" Julia shouted.

"What?!" Everyone shouted. Sure enough the egg was still there, and cracking. A card slid out of Julia's Graveyard, and she slapped it onto her disk.. The egg finally exploded sending holographic egg pieces everywhere. Now taking its place was and older version of Harpie Chick - Rose.(ATK 2100)(DEF 1800)

"Meet Harpie Lady - Rose," Julia smiled.

"Now, what just happened here?" Alein asked, her head spinning.

"Yeah!" Andrew shouted in agreement.

"Well, you see, my Chick token was special," Julia began. "If it is attacked by a monster with 1200 to 1700 attack points it can hatch. If its higher its destroyed. Now, if there's a Harpie Chick in my Graveyard, which there was, I can remove it from play and Summon its Harpie Lady version. If not, it was destroyed. So I removed Harpie Chick Rose to Special Summon Harpie Lady Rose. Cool huh?"

"Yes, quite," Cody nodded, writing something down again.

"This here duel is quite interesting," Alein smiled. "I'll end my turn with a face down."

"OK," Julia breathed, drawing her card. "I'll summon Harpie Chick - Violet!" A young Harpie with two purple ponytails and lighter purple wings leaped out of a purple light that shot out of the ground. (ATK 500)(DEF 500) "I'll then equip her with Feather Evolution! This raises her attack points up by 1000!" Violet was then shrouded in a glowing light, and screeched happily as her attack points went up. (ATK 1500)

"Now, Rose, attack Hunter!" Julia ordered. Without hesitation the Harpie rose up into the air. (ALP 2500)

"Hold on!" Alein interrupted. "I activate my trap, Orbital Bombardment!" Her face down flipped up revealing an alien space ship shooting a lazer beam at the Earth. "By sending a monster from my field to the graveyard I can destroy one Spell or Trap card." Alien Hunter vanished before Rose could finish her attack. "Your target is now gone so Rose can't attack again, and Violet is now to weak to attack."(ATK 500)

"Alirght, then I'll use Hunting Lessons!" A card materialized in front of her with a Harpie Lady and Chick on it. "They each gain 500 attack points!" (ATK 2600)(ATK 1000) "And now, Rose will attack your Infiltrator, followed by Violet taking you out directly!" Rose flew forward as fast as she could, and sent Alien Infiltrator flying in a million pixels.(ALP 1800) Violet then came shooting up from behind her, and dove directly into Alein.(ALP 800)

"Wow," Oscar laughed. "That was awesome!"

"Yay!" Julia cheered.

"Not bad," Andrew nodded in agreement.

"I'll then end my turn now," Julia sighed in relief.

"OK," Alein smiled drawing her next card. "I'll summon Alien Warrior!" A big bulk alien then slammed down on the floor from out of nowhere. He raised his giant head and let out a loud roar. He was purple and silver, and had a large pair of claws. (ATK 1800)(DEF 1000) "Now, attack poor lil Violet!" He let out another roar and bounded towards the helpless Harpie. Suddenly another ghostly figure appeared in front of her, and held the Alien back.

"What in tarnation?" Alein shouted.

"You activated my trap, Deceased Kin," Julia explained. "I put it there at the beginning of the game. See, if there's a Harpie that was pull out of play, I can activate it. Your attack is negated, and you take damage equal to half of your monster's attack points."

"That can't be good," Alein gasped. The ghost took better form and it was Chick Rose. She slipped through Alien Warrior taking some of his power and flew straight through Alein, causing her pain. (ALP 0)

"Did she just win?" Oscar asked taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

"I WON!" Julia gasped in surprise. "OH! MY! GOD! I WON, I WON!" She was overly excited, and jumped around in excitement. The holograms faded, and Alein walked over to her.

"Good job partner," she congratulated holding out her hand.

"Thanks," Julia grinned shaking it.

"Does that mean she's our fourth member?" Terry groaned.

"Yes it does," Cody said proudly. "I'm so glad Alien didn't win."

"It's Alein!" Andrew corrected again as they walked down and off the stands. Oscar followed, and Terry stayed put.

"Congratulations," Andrew smiled. "You are official on the Dueling Team."

"Thank you!" she shouted, hugging him. Andrew's eyes widened in surprise, and Cody began to snort.

"Thank you so much!" Julia cried.

"Um...you can let go now," Andrew said.

"Oh, right," she quickly let go. "Oscar I won!" She bounded over to him and hugged hi mtightly too.

"Julia!" he cried. "Not so tight! I haven't eaten anything in awhile!"

"I guess we're ready for the tournament," Cody sighed in satisfaction.

"Yes we are," Andrew nodded. He turned around to see if Terry was coming down yet, but she was already gone. He looked around and she was nowhere to be found.

---

"I heard Zeta's got a good team this year," said a red-head who sat down next to him.

"How do you know this?" he asked, skillfully shuffling his deck.

"I heard from the transfer student," she answered. "He said that there's this new girl who beat him easily."

"And why did we let him join the team?" the brunette boy sitting in front of them asked, swinging around his chain.

"Because he is a good duelist," he answered. "Too bad Zeta didn't see that."

"You think they have a chance of winning?" the brunette asked.

"Of course not you dweeb!" he shouted. "Delta's got us! And we are _the_ best in the city."

"The girls has a reputation going on," the girl said. "I heard she's only in grade 9 and kicked out of a few schools."

"So?" he asked. "This _girl_ isn't going to change anything. Our school has won the last 6 times, and we are going to make sure we win again. No matter what it costs."

"Even cheat?" the brunette asked.

"Exactly."

---

"We have an official team Principal Dravis," Andrew announced. He, Cody and Julia were now standing before their beloved principal. He looked younger then he claimed to be. He was about 6 foot, had long blonde hair that he kept in a ponytail, and lightly tinted eyes. He was medium built, and had no trace of facial hair anywhere. He wore a short violet jacket, with a black shirt underneath, and a pair of purple paints. His office was very cramped. There was barely enough room for his desk, let alone two shelves besides.

"That's great, but..." he looked at all three of them. "Where's the fourth"

"Oh, she left early," Julia explained.

"She's the new girl, Terry Flank," Cody added.

"Oh," he didn't look too pleased. "Make sure she keeps a clean act. I won't stand it. Bad enough student has already transfered when she arrived."

"What?" they all said in unison.

"Holden Rues transfered this morning," he said.

"She was just sticking up for me!" Julia explained. "He was bullying me."

"And you didn't report this why?" he asked.

"Well...," Julia looked at the floor at a loss for words. Dravis sighed and shook his head.

"Fine I'll allow it," he said. "I'll let the officials know we're in, and I'll get you guys a schedule for the assigned duels."

"Thank you sir," Andrew nodded in thanks.

"Alright, out with you guys," he ordered. The trio briskly filed out of the cramped office.

"We're in!" Julia squealed. "I'm so excited. My mom's going to be so proud. You think we should get some cool outfits? Cause I've noticed that we all wear out uniforms differently, and I thought we could wear uniforming colors, but with different styles. What do ya thing?" She turned to get there input on the idea, but the two boys were already gone. They had split as soon as she mentioned the word 'outfit'. Julia just shrugged, and skipped down the barren hallway.

---

The roads weren't as busy as usual. Terry found it kinda nice. Peace and quiet for once. What had she gotten herself into? Why was she hanging around with all these people. Three misfits, and two so called "Best Duelist in the School". All of them were armatures. She needed a bigger challenge. Like Yugi himself. Now that would be a duel. Too bad though. The only remains of the King of Games was his deck. Or maybe the new owner of Industrial Illusions? If you owned a big company like that, you must be good. Like Kaibi, and Pegasus. Pegasus past away awhile ago and left everything to one person. Too bad nobody knew who he was.

"I wanna be the next Queen of games," she told herself. "That's what I've worked up to all these years. One way or another I'll get into Duel academy next year, become the best there, then take on the world...I have to..." She crossed managed to cross the street before her mind began to wonder.

_"How's the dueling been champ?" asked a lady who walked into the room._

_"Awesome! I was given this card by somebody." Young Terry said excitedly waving a special card up at her. he lady knelt down and took the card to get a better look at it._

_"Wow, I've never seen a card like that before," she said, handing it back. "Who gave it to you?"_

_"I'm not sure," she admitted shrugging her shoulders. "Some old guy. He gave it to me, and made me promise that I'd duel with my heart, and become the best duelist I can be."_

_"That's a great promise," the lady smiled._

_"But why stop at being the best I can be?" she wondered out loud. "I'm going to be the best in the world. You can quote me too."_

_"Alright then," she continued to smile._

_"Me and my Magicians will take the World by storm!" she declared proudly holding up her special card._

_"Before you go off storming, you need to go through school first," the lady objected._

_"School's for wanna bes," Terry laughed._

_"Well, until you are somebody you are a wanna be..."_

Terry was brought back by the honking sound of a car horn. She quickly stepped back, and missed the car. She sighed, and looked both ways before crossing. _Who is that lady?_, she wondered. _Who was that old man? What was that card?_ Her life up to the 5th grade was really foggy. She didn't understand why. It was always like that. Didn't really bug her, but for some reason it intrigued her now. She wanted answers. The only real person who would know would be her mom.

---

"She trying to seek the past!" hissed a crackling voice. "She's heading to ask her mother questions!"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" demanded a superior powering voice. "Stop her!" The little creature scurried over to a giant tube of smokey liquid. He began to chant very old, very ancient words. Within a minute the liquid became even foggier, and it was almost impossible to see through. They felt Terry's presence stop, wonder for a moment, then continued on her way as if she hadn't had anything in her mind.

"She's becoming too old to keep this up," hissed the creature.

"Don't worry, Ripper," assured the booming voice. "Soon she won't be getting older at all." There then came a loud noise that flooded the room. It sounded like hollowed shouts, mixed with high-pitch whispers.

"The grievers become restless," Ripper squealed when it ceased.

"They'll have there taste of freedom soon," the voice sounded calmer. "We just need to keep sure _Terry_ doesn't remember a thing."

---

Here's a list and description of my made up cards.

**Harpie Chick - Violet/Lv.2/Wind/Winged-Beast/ATK 500/DEF 500/Effect:**

This card's name is always treated as "Harpie Chick". If this is the only Harpie Chick out, then Special Summon another from your hand or deck.

**Description:** Two small violet ponytails on her head. Her wings are a lighter purple body is white, grey legs and a deep violet armor. 3 feet tall.

**Harpie Chick - Aqua/Lv.2/Wind/Winged-Beast/ATK 500/DEF 500/Effect:**

This card's name is always treated as "Harpie Chick". If this is the only Harpie Chick out, then Special Summon another from your hand or deck

**Description:** An aquamarine bun sits on the back of her head. Her wings are aqua, her body white, legs grey, and deep aqua armor.

**Harpie Chick - Rose/Lv.2/Wind/Winged-Beasts/ATK 500/DEF 500/Effect:**

This card's name is always treated as "Harpie Chick". If this is the only Harpie Chick out, then Special Summon another from your hand or deck

**Description:** Light pink curls touch her shoulders. Her wings are hot pink, her body white, legs grey, and hot pink armor.

**Harpie Lady-Rose/Lv.5/Wind/Winged-Beast/ATK 2100/DEF 1800/Effect:**

This card's name is always treated as "Harpie Lady". This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by the effects of "Feathered Evolution".

**Description:** Older version of "Harpie Chick - Rose".

**Duo Chick Beam/Normal Spell/Effect:** Activate when there are 2 "Harpie Chicks" on the field. Both monster's original attack points go up by 500. The monsters can attack your opponents life points directly, dealing damage equal to half of their combined attack points.

**Hunting Lessons/Normal Spell/Effect:** Activate when there is 1 "Harpie Chick" and 1 "Harpie Lady" on your side the field, and one monster on your opponent's side. Each Harpie's original attack points are increased by 500. The "Harpie Lady" can attack the monster. Then the "Harpie Chick" can attack your opponent directly.

**Chick Hatchling/Normal Spell/Effect:** Special summon a "Chick Token".(ATK 0)(DEF 1200) in Defense mode. If it is attacked by a monster with attack points between 1200 and 1700, by removing from play a "Harpie Chick" from you Graveyard, and Special Summoning from you Hand or Deck 1 "Harpie Lady - Aqua" if you removed "Harpie Chick - Aqua", 1 "Harpie Lady - Violet" if you removed "Harpie Chick - Violet", or 1 "Harpie Lady - Rose" if you removed "Harpie Chick - Rose", ignoring the Summoning Conditions. If the attack points are higher, or there are no "Harpie Chicks" in your Graveyard after it is attacked, the token is destroyed.

**Feathered Evolution/Equip Spell/Effect:** Equip this to a "Harpie Chick", and increase its attack points by 1000. At the end of the Battle Phase of the turn this monster battles, Tribute the equipped monster and this card to Special Summon from your Hand or Deck 1 "Harpie Lady - Aqua" if you Tributed "Harpie Chick - Aqua", 1 "Harpie Lady - Violet" if you Tributed "Harpie Chick - Violet", or 1 "Harpie Lady - Rose" if you Tributed "Harpie Chick - Rose".

**Deceased Kin/Trap/Effect:** If there's a Harpie out of play, then you can deal half the attacking monster's attack points to your opponents life points.


	4. Dark Wolrd Arrises!

_Author's Note: How ya liking it so far? Let me know what you think?_

Chapter 4: Dark World Arrises!

The next few weeks were utter torture for Terry. She was either at school, being bugged by the school teachers, going to practice after school, to just watch her team mates duel(cause she refused to duel any extra then she needed to), or at home, where her mom got on her back about how she didn't like the idea of dueling. Her free time during lunch, and walking to and from school was wasted on being nagged by Julia,Oscar _and_ Alein. She couldn't get a break from nothing. She especial didn't want to be bugged early in the morning on weekends either, but some people never got it through their heads.

--

"Teresa..." she heard someone call softly. She rolled over and groan. "Come on Teresa..." She then found herself standing. There was this bright light in front of her. She felt strong powers and very drawn to them. She was about to take a step forward when she fell flat on her face, followed by her red sheets.

"Teresa, the phone," her mother called. Terry tossed her head up, throwing off the sheets, and allowing her hair to free fall into her eyes.

"I won't hold the phone forever!" her mother warned sounding irritated. _Why is she in a bad mood?_, she wondered silently, freeing herself from the tangled mess. She rubbed her eyes with one hand and used the other to open her bedroom door. She took the steps slowly, one by one, until she was standing on the same level as her mother.

"Here you go," Jennifer sighed, shoving the phone in her face. Terry snatched it and brought it up to her ear.

"What do you want?" she snapped, plopping herself onto a nearby chair.

"Hey, I'm sorry to call you, but its an emergency!" It was Julia, who sounded very panicked on the other end.

"An emergency to you is someone buying the wrong hairspray," Terry growled. "I told you, I will not help you with anything you need help with. I am not the helping type."

"Well I hope you'll help me when I need it," her mother snapped folding her arms.

"Don't listen to my conversations!" Terry shouted, getting up. "And I shouldn't even be having this one. I'm hanging up!"

"No please!" Julia pleaded. "It's for the sake of the team! Just please come to my house! Everyone's coming. Bye!" With that, the line went dead. Terry huffed angrily and hung up the phone. _Everyone huh?_

--

"You look perfect!" Julia cheered, clapping her hand rapidly. Oscar blushed, and lowered his head.

"Why'd you make me this?" he sighed.

"Even though your not officially on the team, it's like you are," she shrugged.

"Hey, what about me?" Alein asked folding her arms, chewing hard on a piece of gum. She was being prep today.

"Uh, yours isn't done yet," Julia said. "It will be soon." Oscar was wearing an original school uniform. His blazer was black, edged with purple, and had the Zeta emblem on the left side. His dress shirt was blue, and the collar folded overtop the blazer, with a tie tucked under. His pants were neatly pressed and black, with blue and purple stripes down he side.

"I especially like the back of the pants," Julia grinned. Oscar shamefully turned around, and "ZETA" was spelt out in big bold letter on the butt of the pants.

"I think it's cute too," Alein nodded in agreement. "I like yours too."

"Thank you," Julia grinned happily, spinning around a few times. Her shirt was purple with blue stripes on the short sleeves and made of cotton with the Zeta emblem on the left side. Her skirt was past knee length, and black, with fancy purple lace on the ends, as well as down the sides. The back of her skirt across the butt also said "ZETA".

"Where do you find time for this stuff?" Cody asked, coming out of the bathroom, adjusting his vest. It was black with a few purple and blue stripes criss-crossing, and a Zeta emblem. It was over a blue T-shirt. His pants were black jeans, with purple stitching down the sides. With, of course, "ZETA" across the butt.

"Not bad," Julia nodded in admiration. "I got the dimensions pretty good."

"Not with mine you didn't," Andrew sighed, coming down the stairs from the upstairs bathroom. The sleeves on his blue jacket were way too long. It too had a Zeta emblem, and black cuffs. Underneath he wore a plain black muscle shirt. His paints were black jeans as well, except there were flame designs on them made from purple stitching. His visor had "ZETA" written across it, as did the butt of his pants.

"Oh, shoot!" Julia sighed. "Looks like I'll need to trim it, a few inches. Here, give me it." He was more then happy to take it off and hand it over.

"Why would you go through all this trouble?" Cody asked. "We already have school uniforms."

"Well, you have to admit the uniforms are blah!" she found a pair of scissors and sat down on the couch next to Alein. "I wanted us to go with some style, not just with good dueling skills."

"When is your first duel anyway?" Oscar asked, fixing the sleeves of his blazer.

"Next Monday," Andrew answered, watching Julia go crazy with the scissors, then grabbed a needle and thread.

"A week from tomorrow?" Alein gasped. "Why that is like so awesome! You nervous?"

"And why would we be?" Cody laughed. "It's not like we have the school's entire reputation on our shoulders."

"But you do," Oscar pointed out. Cody shook his head, and rolled his eyes. Oscar just shrugged and grabbed a bag of chips out of no where. He happily began to chow down, oblivious to the mess he was making.

"All done!" Julia announced, holding up Andrew's fixed jacket. "Try it now." Andrew looked over at Cody doubtfully, who just shrugged. He took the jacket and slipped it on, surprised to find it fit perfectly.

"I know I'm good," Julia grinned. "I wonder where Terry is."

"Knowing that girl, she probably won't show," Alein sighed.

"Oh, well, I'll just bring her her clothes tomorrow," Julia shrugged.

"Or later on today. We're suppose to have another practice this afternoon," Cody remembered.

"Why does she even bother showing up?" Andrew asked. "She doesn't even duel."

"At least she's staying dedicated," Oscar shrugged, finishing the last of his bag.

--

It was finally the afternoon, and Terry was making her way to Zeta School's Gym, where they were suppose to be having another practice. She didn't understand why she even went. It's not like she dueled or anything. She'd much rather go down town and duel. Compared to down town, the dueling club was a tea party. She'd rather be where the big leagues were. Even past down town, all the way to Duel Academy.

The School of dueling, resting on a large private island. Ever since she built her deck and became a really good duelist, she dreamed of walking up those giant steps to the main doors, ready to take on anyone she had to, to make it to the top. But her dreams came to a crashing halt when...When did they come to a halt? For all she could remember, her mother always forbid her from going to duel Academy. When it came time for the School Entry Duels, she was heart broken and became rotten about everything...or was she bitter before then? Nothing made sense. Things didn't even seem to add up.

She was beginning to feel incomplete, but the feeling went away when she was punched in the shoulder.

"Jerk!" she shouted, turning around, swinging her arm ready to punch whoever hit her. She was hoping she'd catch him off guard and hit him square in the face, but her fist pounded the palm of a defensive hand.

"Still have reflexes I see." It was Jurel.

"Don't touch me again you scum!" Terry warned, pulling her fist free of his hand. Candy was standing next to him, sucking on a big blue sucker, that made her lips turn color.

"Oh, I'm so scared," he pretended to sound afraid. "Those are some real fighting words."

"Don't talk to me!" she warned, and made her way towards the school again, but Jurel and Candy were in close pursuit.

"Where ya goin'?" Jurel asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"None of your business," Terry snapped.

"Guess we'll just have to follow you and find out," Candy smirked, sucking harder on her sucker.

"You jerks will do no such thing," Terry ordered, and quickened her pace.

"You can't get rid of us that easily," Jurel laughed. Terry didn't reply and kept on walking.

"Why do you always push people away?" Candy asked, pretending to sound concerned. "We're your friends..."

"You are not my friends!" Terry shouted.

"Still holding grudges?" Jurel laughed. "You need to learn to let the past go."

Let it go? They used her to steal and sell rare cards, then left her hanging when she was caught. These too were idiots if they thought she would forget what they did. They never cared about her, they only pretended too, like they are now.

"You guys are really full of it to think I'm going to be nice to you," Terry snapped. "I don't want to be bother by you guys anymore, and I want you to leave me alone!"

"Raising your voice ain't gonna solve nothin'," Jurel smiled.

"Is there a problem here?" The three of them stopped in there tracks as a limo pulled up in front of them with Andrew's head sticking out of it.

"Why don't you just keep on riding rich boy," Candy spat. "This matter doesn't concern you."

"Well, you messing with our teammate!" Julia shouted stepping out of the car on the other side. "Mess with her, and you mess with us!" She could barely look over the limo. Jurel and Candy began to laugh there heads off.

"You must be kidding me," Jurel laughed. "This petty rich boy, and that short girl are on your team? Talk about pathetic."

"Why don't you pout your deck where your mouth is?" Cody shouted stepping out next to Julia.

"I'm not stupid enough to keep one," Jurel snapped.

"Well at least they have the brains to keep a deck in one piece!" Alein shouted, pulling Andrew out of the way and sticking her head out the window. "Get lost you freaks."

"You calling me a freaky, you preppy puss?" Candy asked, rolling up her sleeves.

"Preppy puss?" Alein gasped. "That is like, the stupidest insult I've ever heard! You-"

"If you guys are trying to stick up for me, you're doing a pretty pathetic job of it!" Terry interrupted. They all stared at her in disbelief. "I don't need your help for the last time. Now lets get this hour and a half practice done already." She marched angrily around the limo, and finished the walk to the school that was right across the street.

"We'll meet again," Candy warned, pointing threateningly at Alein as Jurel pulled her away.

"I'll be waiting," Alein stuck out her tongue.

"I swear," Oscar sighed, still sitting in the car. "I do not get Terry at all."

"I know, eh?" Alein agreed.

"It's not like anyone can get _her_ either," Cody whispered to Julia, who couldn't help but giggle.

--

"So who should duel first?" Cody asked, putting his hands behind his head, and leaned back in the stands. They all sat around him, while Terry sat not too far away. She liked to sit alone.

"I'm like, getting really bored of watching you guys all the time," Alein whined. "So, I wanna duel someone." No one said anything.

"Cody'll duel you," Andrew finally spoke up.

"I'll do what?" Cody shouted, falling backwards into the next row of seats.

"Awesomess!" Alein squealed, jumping up from her seat. "Come on Cody!" She gleefully skipped down the aile stairs and onto the gym floor.

"I hate you man," Cody groaned, and sluggishly walked out onto the floor. Terry sat up in her seat.

"You guys ready?" Julia asked.

"Yup," Alein grinned, turning on her duel disk.(ALP 4000)

"I guess," Cody sighed sliding his deck into the disk.(CLP 4000)

"DUEL!"

"Ladies first?" Cody offered.

"Sure," Alein smiled, drawing her sixth card. She then slapped it down on the Duel Disk without hesitation. A violet and beige alien burst from the ground in front of her. He had large claws and sharp teeth. (ATK 1800)(DEF 1000) "I'll summon Alien Warrior in attack mode, and I'll play "A" Cell Breeding Device,and I think I'll add a face down." A tall cylindrical device rose slowly from the ground, filled with bubbling liquid and a few of those A-Counters.

"Gross," Julia pretended to gag.

"Your turned," Alein grinned, cocking out a hip. Cody rolled his eyes and drew his next card, adding it to his hand.

"Zure, Knight of Dark World, come on out!" As he lightly placed a card on the field, a mutated man with a long purple, with a long double edged sword spun out of the ground.(ATK 1800)(DEF 1500) He gave a large sinister grin, and held his sword out in front of him, pointing at the Alien.

"Oh wow!" Alein cheered. "Our monsters are like, both purple! That is like, so cool!" Everyone lowered their heads and stared at her blankly.

"I'm beginning to agree with Cody," Oscar sighed, bitting a burger. "She really is an alien."

"Where'd you get that?" Julia asked bewildered. "A minute ago you didn't even have any food." Oscar just shrugged and took another bite.

"I'll end my turn," Cody announced, not placing another card down.

"Alright!" Alein cheered. "My Breeding Device can now take affect!" An A-counter shot out of the machine, and attached itself to Zure's arm.

"What the?"

"During each of my Standby Phases I get to add an "A"-Counter on one of your monsters," Alein grinned, drawing a card. "I'll now summon Alien Mars!" An alien with three tentacles beamed down out of no where, with red circles on his head and chest. (ATK 1000)(DEF 1000) "Alright, now Alien Warrior, attack Zure."

"But they'll both be destroyed," Andrew said thoughtfully. "What is she-" (ATK 1500)

"Hey why'd Zure's attack points go down?" Cody demanded, as his monster was destroyed by the effortless swing of the Alien's mighty claw. (CLP 3700)

"It's my Alien Warrior's effect," Alein rolled her eyes, as if she was really annoyed. "During the battle phase, a monster battling an Alien and is attached with an A-Counter loses 300 attack points. So he lost his points, and like, lost the battle."

"I don't like her today," Julia sighed, folding her arms.

"I don't like her any day," Andrew shook his head, looking extremely irritated. "I don't get why she follows us. She never use to bother us."

"Not much we can do though," Oscar shrugged, after finishing the remains of his burger.

"Now Alien Mars, attack him directly," She cheered, excitedly. The alien floated over to Cody and slapped him in the face with one of its tentacles. (CLP 2700)

"Ouch," Julia winced. "That's gotta hurt."

"Why'd he have to slap me?" Cody complained, cushioning his now swollen cheek.

"He doesn't like you," She shrugged. "I'll end my turn with another face down."

Cody growled and drew, immediately placing it down on the field. "Come forward, Scarr, Scout of Dark World!" A four-legged beast sprung from the ground. It seemed like a grey creature covered with red armor, with a tiny squiggled knife in his hand. (ATK 500)(DEF 500)

"What a weak monster," Alein snorted. "What do you plan on doing with that little weakling."

"Nothing right now," he answered. "But I am going to activate Dark World Lightning!" Storm clouds suddenly appeared over the two duelist. A strong breeze whipped through, blowing everyone's hair.

"What are you doing?" Alein whined.

"This allows me to destroy one of your face down cards," He explained. A bolt of purple lightning then struck Alein's first face down card.

"Waaaaaaaaah!" She cried. "You're so mean!" Cody only shook his head.

"Now I need to discard a card from my hand," He slipped a card into the graveyard, and the ground before him broke up again.

"HUH!?" Everyone leaned forward in surprise, except for Terry. A skeletal man with purple muscles now stood next to Scarr. (ATK 1600)(DEF 1300)

"Meet Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World," Cody smirked.

"How did he get there!" Alein shouted, looking stressed, as if she couldn't keep up with what was going on.

"By discarding Beiige to my graveyard by a card effect, I was able to summon him to the field," He explained. "Pretty cool huh?"

"Really cool," Oscar agreed, lifting a giant pretzel covered with mustard into the air.

"OSCAR!" Julia shriek.

"What?" He jumped up, thinking something was extremely wrong.

"You have to quit with the magical food appearing out of no where thing!" She cried. "You're going to become obese!"

"I'm not yet," he shrugged, shoving half of it into his mouth.

"OK, Beiige!" Cody shouted. "Attack Alien Mars!" The man charged forward, his knife-ended staff gripped tightly in both hands. With one swipe, he shattered the alien into tiny pixels.

"WAH!!" Alein wailed, tears flooding down her face.(ALP 3400)

"Oh, quit crying!" Cody growled irritated. "You are so annoying!"

"And I'm not going to go easy on you anymore," She sniffed, whipping her eye. "Now end your turn!"

"All done," He snapped. Alein stuck her tongue at him immaturely, and drew a card, as an A-counter flew out of the machine, attaching itself to Beiige.

"Good thing you didn't destroy my other card! I'll now activate it,Interdimensional Warp!" The card flipped up revealing a picture of a person with an A-Counter on them, and spinning arrows behind them. Beiige then let out a roar, as he was pulled to Alein's side of the field.

"What are you doing?" Cody demanded.

"I'm taking your monster and giving you mine," She smirked, sticking out her hip. "Sorry buddy, but I need to give you to that bad boy so I can win." Alien Warrior, nodded, and ran over to Cody, giving him an evil glare.

"Why is she taking his when its weaker?" Oscar asked, tilting his head to the side.

"She obviously has a trick up her sleeve," Andrew sighed. "Pay attention. People don't pull stupid stunts like that unless it has a meaning behind it." Oscar shied away, surprisingly still with a piece of his pretzel.

"Now, I'll tribute your pathetic monster, and summon my ace!" She cheered. Beiige shattered, replaced by a growing fog on Alein's side of the field.the entire gym went dark, and the ground began to shake. Julie screeched, and grabbing onto the nearest thing, which was Oscar. She was squeezing him so hard, his was was beginning to turn blue. If he hadn't choked, she wouldn't have eased on her grip. Andrew straighten himself up as a loud roar echoed through the room. Even Terry became interested. It was becoming more interesting.

"Meet...!" Alein shouted as the fog grew. "Cosmic! Horror! Gangi'el!" A humongous alien then emerged from the fog, as tall as the gym's high ceiling. Julie and Oscar were now both cringing, and holding each other tightly. It was hard to describe the creature, but it had large tentacles sprouting everywhere, with long claw-like things in the front. (ATK 2600)(DEF 2000)

"Damn," Terry laughed. "I'd like to see him get passed that."

"He will," Andrew snapped. "He always does."

"That's a level 7!" Cody objected. "How can you summon a level seven with only one tribute?"

"Since it was your monster, I only need on to summon him," she sneered. "I know I'm good." Cody rolled his eyes. "Now, Gangi'el, I can activae his ability. Once per turn I can add an A-counter to a monster." An A-counter was spit out of his gigantic mouth, and attached to Scarr. "Now, destroy his little weakling of a monster!" With the giant claws, it tore up Scarr. He stood no chance against the giant beast, and what was worse was that he lost 300 life point due to the A-counter. (CLP 300)

"YAY!" Alein cheered. "You're going to lose!" Cody didn't look to hopeful.

"Come on Cody!" Amdrew shouted. "You can do this! You still have Alien Warrior on your field!"

"Please turn the lights on," Julia whispered, still clinging onto Oscar.

"I'm so scared, I'm not even hungry," He shuddered.

"Your turn, loser," Alein giggled, holding an "L" up to her forehead. Cody drew his next card, and hope crossed his face.

"I'll play Dark World Dealings!" The card he held out began to glow.

"And how is that suppose to help you?" Alein asked.

"We both draw a card, then discard one," he explained, doing just that.

"Maybe he's doing that discard a monster by effect, and summon thing?" Oscar guessed.

"That might be it," Julia nodded. "There shall be light!"

"Shut up and watch," Terry hissed. Alein did the same.

"Now what?" she shrugged.

"Now...," Cody smirked. "I bring out _my_ ace." The ground broke in front of him allowing a rainbow of light to break through the darkness. Julia and Oscar cheered, jumping to their feet.

"What?!" Alein shouted.

"I discarded him by the effect of my spell card, now i can activate his ability by summoning him to the field," Cody announced. "Please welcome Reign-Beaux! Overlord of Dark World!" A giant fiend emerged slowly from the opening in the floor. Black, and giant horns, with four rainbow jewels on his chest. Giant wings sprouting from his back, and a mighty staff in his hands. At the sight of the attack points, everyone's hope melted, except for Andrew's.(ATK 2500)(DEF 1800)

"Yes!" He cheered. "He's got this in the bag!"

"Are you blind?" Julia shouted. "he's 100 attack points short. He'll never win!"

"Just watch!" Andrew shouted back.

"HAHAHAHA!" Alein squealed. "He's not strong enough to defeat my monster!"

"He is with his ability," Cody corrected. "Since I special summoned him the way I did, i can either destroy all Trap and Spell cards on your side of the field, or..."

"My monsters?" She squeaked, shrinking down.

"Exactly!" he grinned. Reign-Beaux's staff began to glow, and he swung it at the giant alien. It was wrapped in a shell of rainbow light, before it caved in on itself, crying out in defeat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alein was slumped on the floor, crying.

"Now that your fields empty, I can have both my monsters attack you," Cody grinned in triumph. Reign-Beaux didn't hesitate in surrounding Alein in a sphere of light, draining her life points. (ALP 900) Alien Warrior was more reluctant to attack, and only tapped her on the shoulder to take away the remainder of her life points. (ALP 0) the holograms faded, and the lighting became normal again.

"YAY!" Julia cheered. "It's bright again."

"I knew I'd win," Cody smiled. "That was a short battle, but you did A good job."

"Hmph," Alein pouted, and stomped up toward the exit. "I'm never speaking to you again!" She slammed the door behind her.

"Watch tomorrow, she'll say she was just upset and being a little over dramatic, but never meant a word of it," Oscar sighed. "She's so weird."

"And your one to talk," Terry mumbled under her breath.He didn't catch on to what she said.

"I think we should rest up the next week, not worry about dueling," Andrew suggest.

"Good idea," Cody agreed, walking up the stands. Terry got up, and began to walk toward the exit.

"Where ya going?" Oscar asked.

"Nunya," was all she said, before disappearing out into the hallway.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Julia asked, scratching her head.

"Suppose we'd better get going too," Oscar shrugged. "No need to stay here any longer."

"Or, we could duel," Andrew suggested. "Break doesn't start 'til tomorrow."

"Sure," Cody grinned, and they two friends, raced back down to the gym floor.

"What did she mean by Nunya?" Julia was still pondering this, while Oscar started eating a bowl of noodles.

--

That night Terry dreamed. she dreamed about something out of the ordinary. Something she never thought was even thinkable. It was horrible, and wonderful at the same time. But when she woke up, she couldn't remember a second of it. She sat awake most of the night after that, shuffling through her deck. she didn't understand anything anymore. Every time she tried to think about her foggy past, she somehow deluded it, and it became even foggier. her dream had something to do with it. If only she could remember. She began to feel incomplete, hollow with out a meaning, but the feeling suddenly was swept away, and she was over come by sleep again. She shrugged, and put her deck away, hoping to receive more sleep.

--

The little creature felt Terry's presence. That all it ever felt. The beat of her heart, the warmth of her body, the thoughts on her mind. Everything she went through, it did as well. its soul-purpose was to prevent her from remembering. Remembering her past. For her past would bring a downfall. A downfall that was unknown, yet known to happen. I could be the downfall of his master, or of her own existence. Who knew? Certainly not it. Day after day, year after year, it watched over her, protecting her from her destiny.

Even though it knew it, sometimes it felt like its identity was Terry herself. Every emotion, every thought, every form of speech was shared with it. It had no true identity, so it sometimes got lost, and thought it was terry herself. But its master was always there, to keep it focused on its job. its soul-purpose. It never thought or acted on its own, only what was order of it. And that was to keep the horrors and wonders that could happen to the worlds through this one child. This one heart.

--

The next day, Terry, was exhausted. She managed to fall asleep again, but it seemed like she didn't receive enough. She opened her locker, and managed to get her stuff out for her first class before Julia found her, but it wasn't enough to avoid her completely.

"Terry wait!" Julia called, when she tried to duck away.

"What?" She growled, staring down at her.

"I was wondering," she said. "What did you mean by 'Nunya'?"


	5. Time to Duel!

Chapter 5: Time to Duel!

The day had finally come. The first day of the Tournament. The duels were held after school, at the local arena. All day the school was a buzz with excitement. It had been made public new who their team was, and there were posters everywhere with the teams picture on it. Kids that past Terry wished her luck. She hated having all these kids talking to her. She wished that it was kept in private like the practices. She liked praise yes, but only when it was in the arena.

---

"Here you go Terry," Julia grinned, dropping a garbage bag on the table in front of her.

"You want me to take out your trash?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"No," Julia laughed. "It's your uniform."

"I have one if you hadn't already noticed," She sighed. It was lunch time, and Oscar was sitting across the table from them, gulping down on a three course lunch, which consisted of sushi and a bowl of rice, a couple pizzas, and half a dozen ice cream sandwiches. She glared at him in disgust. _Where does he put it?_, she wondered.

"No, it's the customized uniforms I made for the team," Julia explained. "I even made Oscar and Alein."

"But it has a skirt!" Alein complained. She was skater today, and had a toque pulled down tightly over her hair, and super baggy clothes on.

"It's not my fault you keep changing on me," Julia growled.

"But why are you giving this to me now?" Terry asked.

"Well, we haven't had a practice in a week, and I kept forgetting," She shrugged.

"So how does this tournament work?" Oscar asked, almost done his pizza now.

"There are five rounds and two bonus rounds," Andrew began. "The first round all twenty-four schools are in. One school goes against another in three single battles. Whoever wins best out of three goes onto the next round.

"But there's four people on a team," Julia interrupted. "Not all four team members will get to duel that round."

"That's the way it works," He shrugged. "Anyways, by how well we do, you get points recorded. Then comes the first bonus round. The top 5 duelist then get to do something to earn their team more points."

"Terry's for sure going to be in the top 5," Julia cheered. "Even number 1"

"Can you quit talking!" Terry snapped. Julia straightened up, squeezed her mouth shut, and placed her hands on her lap obediently.

"The next round," Cody continued. "is a Tag-Team battle. The school goes against a different one in only one battle, whoever wins goes on, earning more points. Then the next bonus round, the top 3 duelists get a chance to earn their team some more points." Julia looked tense from trying to restrain herself from talking.

"Now we're down to 6 teams, and its the third round," Andrew went on. "The school goes against another school, but this time they duel in two Single matches, and one Tag-Team duel."

"So that round everyone on the team gets a chance to duel," Oscar nodded, eating an ice cream sandwich. Julia made a face at Terry, surprised that she didn't tell him to shut up.

"By the Semi-Finals there'll only be 3 teams left," Cody continued. "They 3 teams go against each other, winning the best out of 3. The 2 teams with the highest scores go onto the finals. During the finals, it doesn't matter about points, but wins. The final teams will battle best out of three in Single duels, and best out of three in Tag-Team Duels. The team who wins the most wins."

"But...," Andrew interrupted. "If there's a tie in the amount of wins, like we won the first set, the other team won the next, we'll each chose our best players for the final battle. Who ever wins that duel, wins the title, regardless of the point count."

"That sounds so radical, dude!" Alein shouted.

"It'll be easy," Terry shrugged. "We wont need to go to the final show down, unless of course we don't all pull our weight." Her eyes wondered to glare at Julia.

"Hey, I'll be fine," Julia yelled, flailing her arms. "No need to worry about me."

"Right," she mumbled under her breath.

---

The stands were packed with students from all 24 schools. The teams from each school stood in the middle of the arena, the announcer booming through the speakers, welcoming them to the tournament, yadda yadda yadda. Terry stood with her teammates, amongst the other teams. Terry glanced around her assessing them on their looks. Some looked tough, others easy to beat, and some were just down right weird. This was going to be an unforgettable experience.

Terry had given in to Julia and wore the outfit she made. Her jacket was black, with a thick blue stipe down the sleeves, which were pushed up above her elbows. A Zeta emblem was in the top corner. Underneath she had a purple t-shirt on. Her pants were purple, with thick black stripes down the sides, and ZETA written across the butt(This was the worst feature of all). Julia did have a baseball cap for her, but she decided to wear a black bandana instead(She found it was less stressful on her head when she was trying to think).

"Now without further ado!" The announcer shouter through the mic. "Let the dueling commence!" The spectators cheered, screamed, and whistles, filling the room, and making it echo off the walls.

"I'm going to have a headache," Terry groaned.

"Please don't," Julia gasped. "We need you." Terry only rolled her eyes, and followed Andrew and Cody off the field.

"When's our first match?" Terry asked when they were clear off the arena, and into the hallway.

"Roughly 3:45," Andrew answered. "The last duel of the day."

"Huh?" Julia asked scratching her head.

"There are three arenas on the field right?" Cody sighed, breaking it down. "And the first round there's suppose to be three duels between each team. So the first two teams are dueling all three battles at once, and when their done, the next two go out."

"Oh," Julia nodded in understanding. "How will they fit all the duels for the first round in one day."

"They aren't," Terry answered this time. "They have it through this whole week, we're lucky to have it the first day, but we'll still have to show up everyday."

"Hey guys!" Oscar and Alein were zig-zagging through the other teams to get to them. Alein had refused to wear the uniform Julia made, and wore a regular one.

"Since your not on for awhile, wanna hit the cafeteria?" Oscar suggested.

"You and food," Julia sighed.

"I'm actually the one who's hungry," Alein spoke up. "Wanna go?"

"Andrew and I have to go do something," Cody said. "Sorry. We'll meet you at 3:30." The two of them made their way through the crowds.

"Great," Terry moaned. "I'm stuck with the Three Stooges."

"Let's go Terry!" Julie smiled, grabbing her arm.

"Don't touch me!" Terry shouted, yanking free.

---

"Is that her?" He asked, watching the Zeta team from afar.

"Yup," Holden nodded. "She's the one."

"She's tall for her age ain't she," The brunette boy commented.

"She's also got a fighting attitude," Holden added.

"Maybe if we push the right buttons we can get them kicked out," He thought out loud.

"Maybe," The brunette shrugged. "Where's Margery?"

"Right here," The Red-head sat down next to them, with a slushie in her hands. "What we looking at?"

"The Zetas," The brunette said. "Those three walking with her are weird." Margery spit out what was in her mouth when she saw who they were looking at.

"What?" He asked.

"There's no way that their the team," she said.

"The boy, and the skater aren't, but that little girl is," Holden explained.

"Unbelievable," She whispered, sipping her drink.

"You know her?" Holden asked.

"Wish I didn't," she mumbled.

---

The cafeteria wasn't as packed as Terry expected it to be. Some of the other teams had flowed here as well, probably not interested in watching all those duels when they weren't even dueling today, or just waiting for their turn.

"Where should we sit?" Julia asked, looking around tentatively.

"It doesn't matter to me," Oscar commented, licking his lips. "As long as I can get some food."

"Better have brought money then," Someone laughed from the table they stood next to. "Nothing's free here." Terry only glanced at them from the corner of her eye. There were five duelist sitting at the table, and from three different schools by the looks of their uniforms. She recognized one of them immediately, and he recognized her too.

"Wow, hey Terry," He greeted. "Didn't think I'd see you hear."

"Hi, Dragamire," she said, not looking at him completely. Julia, Oscar and Alein leaned around her to get a look at who she was talking to. Dragamire Hush. He went to Omega, and like all the other Omega kids, he was wearing whatever clothes he felt comfortable with. In this case, it a leather jacket, with a muscle shirt underneath, with torn jeans, and bandana tied around his head. She had a run in with him one day, and totally kicked his butt, at dueling of course.

"I see you picked up on my fashion statement," He grinned motioning towards her own bandana. "Helps you keep your sight and mind clear huh?" She only nodded in agreement. She had to admit she did copy off him, but the reasoning was true, and she found it worked for her.

"Did he go to one of your old school?" Julia asked.

"Duh," Terry sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Haha, I see you haven't changed much," he commented. "What school you at now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She shrugged, gesturing to their attire.

"Snazzy," he chuckled. "Zeta huh? Who designed them?"

"Me!" Julia grinned happily.

"I see," he nodded. "I heard you transfered quite a few times."

"From Omega, to Alpha, to Xi, to Zeta," She said, making him break out into hysterical laughter.

"Xi?" He snickered. "You've gotta be kidding! What was your mom thinking?"

"Didn't even last a day," She shrugged, thinking back at her accomplishment. She had to smile at that.

"Nice," He grinned. This was the first conversation she enjoyed in a long time. She forgot what it was like talking with Dragamire. He was the only one she'd willingly talk to back then (besides Jurel and Candy and she didn't even find talking to them pleasant either). Xi was a Prep school for girls. They basically taught you how to be a proper girl. Terry despised it as soon as her mother said where she was transferring to.

"Well, we sure feel out of the loop here," Said the girl sitting next to him. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, that covered one of her eyes.

"Sorry, everyone this is Terry Flank," He introduced. "She use to go to Omega if you hadn't already noticed. Terry this is Yully and Bradly from Lambda," He motioned to the blonde next to him, and the boy with black emo hair sitting next to her. "and Richie and Nikki from Gamma." The two sitting in front of him looked like twins. They both had violet hair, but the girl's fell to her waist, while the boy's stopped at his shoulders. She nodded to them in acknowledgment. Lambda was a school for Martial Arts, and she wouldn't have mind being sent there. Gamma on the other hand she wouldn't be caught dead in. First off, because only rich people went there, second, it was also a private school for snots.

"I'm Julia," She spoke up, because Terry was obviously not going to introduce them. "And this is Oscar, and Alein. Only Terry and I are on the team, our other teammates went off somewhere."

"You guys can pull up a chair, you know, swap stories," Dragamire offered.

"I'm not one for talking," Terry reminded him.

"Yet here you are," he smiled. Terry smirked back. Julie was bewildered at the site. She'd never seen Terry smile unless she was on the battle field.

"We're actually going to get some food," Oscar neglected, motioning to him and Alein. "And we're ordering a lot of food, so there wouldn't be any room for you guys."

"OK?" Richie raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"You don't wanna know," Terry mumbled as they left. Terry gave in and sat down next to Nikki, across from Dragamire. There was no room for Julia to sit, and this made Terry happy inside. She looked at her insignificant teammate, who looked back at her with watering puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, go eat with Oscar," She growled. Julia looked even more upset, as she sulked away.

"What's wrong with her?" Yully asked.

"Extremely over dramatic," Terry groaned.

"Looks like you have your hands full at that school," Dragamire laughed.

"I got those three following me, complete freaks," She explained. "Then I have these two other guys thinking their the best in the school, when I creamed one of them."

"Showing 'em whose the boss huh?" he grinned. She nodded.

"You that good?" Bradly asked, leaning forward.

"The best in this whole tournament. I can guarantee you that," She boasted.

"Don't get too cocky now," Nikki snorted.

"It's the truth," She snapped. "And if my team were to lose, it would be because of my loser teammates."

"That's my Terry," Dragamire grinned.

"I'm not yours," She gritted her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him.

"How good are you at Tag-team dueling?" Richie asked, leaning around his sister.

"I try to avoid it as much as possible," She shrugged.

"If you don't like teaming then why'd you join the Dueling team?" Yully wondered, curiously.

"To prove how good I am," She said. "I'm here to show people I'm a force to be reckoned with. I wanna get into Duel Academy, and maybe by winning, I can finally convince my mom to let me go."

"Well, I believe you're the best," Dragamire said, filling in the small silence that followed Terry's explanation. "She beat me easily. Wow, I bet this is the most you've talked for in a long while huh?"

"I just feel in the mood," She shrugged.

"Richie! Nikki! We're up!" Someone called from the entrance.

"We're off!" Nikki grinned, sliding off the seat after her brother. "Wish us luck."

"Good luck," Yully waved.

"What's with the Wonder twins there?" Terry asked. "They seem full of themselves."

"Richie is, but Nikki's level headed," Bradly answered. "Their the best Tag Duelists in the city."

"Lately all you hear is best in the city this, or best in the city that," Yully sighed, rolling her eyes.

"I'm aiming for best in the city, then the world," Terry nodded.

"Keep that attitude and you'll surly do it," Dragamire nodded.

"Have you been up yet?"

"Nope, not until Friday."

"Hey Terry!" Andrew ran through the entrance, and quickly scanned the crowd, before realizing she wasn't that far away.

"We're on after the schools that just went on," He said jogging over. "So be on stand by."

"Fine," she said not looking up at him.

"You the dude she creamed?" Dragamire asked, leaning back in the booth.

"Um, sure?" He said, looking taken aback by the terms used.

"I'd advise you not to do anything that'll tick her off," he said. "She's a real treasure, and if she leaves your team, you, are, screwed!"

"Oh shut up, Dragamire," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm going for a walk. I'll meet you when its time. Nice meeting you." She said, nodding towards Bradly and Yully. "Bye Dragamire."

"See ya," he saluted, as she left them.

---

"Oh I'm so nervous!" Julia was trembling.

"Julia," Andrew placed a hand on her shoulder. "Um, we wanted to have a perfect performance for the first round, so Cody, Terry and I were going to duel."

"WHAT!?!?!" she whined, her eyes tearing up. "That's not fair!"

"A good strategy would be to even out your players," Oscar spoke up, adjusting his glasses. "So you should put out Terry, Julia, and either or one of you two."

"Why are you even here?" Cody demanded. "Go back in the stand where you're suppose to be."

"Just giving you some input," he snapped, making a face at him before leaving.

"He does have a point," Terry agreed, walking up to them.

"WHAT!?" Her teammates looked at her in shock.

"What?" She shrugged.

"You're agreeing with Oscar," Cody gawked.

"And you sounded nice about it," Julia added, stunned.

"I'd say that Dragamire tapped a soft spot in you," Andrew smiled amusingly.

"Excuse me," She growled, getting up in his face, grinding her teeth.

"Zeta Team, please ready your three players," said a girl with a clipboard. She must be helping to run this.

"So who's going out?" Cody asked. Their eyes traveled from one member to the next.

"Terry for sure," Andrew said, bitting his nail. "I suppose Julia can go out."

"Yay!" She cheered, jumping up and down.

"You can go on if you want," Andrew offered Cody.

"You sure?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. "We should have our team captain out there for the first round.

"I'm sure," he nodded.

"So whose going out?" the girl asked again.

"Terry Flank, Julia Daffil, and Cody Kyndri," Andrew answered.

"Alright," the girl nodded. "Terry on Field A, Julia on Field B, and Cody on Field C."

"Suit up guys," Andrew ordered.

"It's over!" The Announcers voice boomed through the arena. "With all three wins, the team moving onto the next round is Team Gamma!" _Great_, Terry thought. _Hopefully we don't have to go against them in the Tag-Team Round._

"What school are we even going against?' Julia asked, fitting on her duel disk.

"Team Sigma," the lady answered, leaving them.

"The military school for girls?" She shrieked.

"It'll be fine," Terry groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Now, let's welcome the final teams of the day!" The Announcer shouted with a lot of enthusiasm. "Coming from the right, we have Zeta Team!" The wide doors slid open slowly, and dramatically, allowing some smoke to escape as the three of the stepped through, Terry leading the way. The arena was brightly lit, and sectioned off into three arenas. The spectators filled the room with ear-splitting screams. Terry felt a sudden adrenaline rush as she stepped out onto the field. She stopped to admire the site. It was her time. To show the entire student body of the city that she was somebody, and she was gonna make it big. She could see a section behind them that were filled with Zeta students, some were even holding up posters. _How Cliche_, she thought. Each field was largely labeled with a letter, and Terry walked casually to the first field.

"And to the left! We have Sigma team!" The crowds burst out again in cheers as three girls dressed in camaflauge attire marched out in perfect unison. They marched in a straight line, the middle one shouted some orders, and the two on the outside walked off in a straight line, moving to the outer fields. Once there, they marched in place until the middle one shouted to Halt! The middle one shouted again, and the two outer girls turned to face their opponents at the same time.

"Whoa, talk about a good performance of synchronization," The Announcer commented. "In Field A, we have Terry Flank against Lily Zing!" This brought the noise level of the crowd up again. _Goodness, can't we get on with this_, she pleaded silently. Her opponent had Green hair that was pulled into a tight bun, but with stray hairs hanging in her face. Her face was straight, and she stared blankly at Terry.

"In Field B, we have Julia Daffil and Lory Bothitic," he continued, over the shouts that still poured from the spectators. "And in Field C, Cody Kyndri battling Delilah Saint!"

The cheers slowly died down, and the Announcer was able to continue. "Alright duelists, ready your Decks!" In unison the three opposing girls slid out their decks and locked them into the disks, opening up in exact sync. Terry shivered, and slid hers in.

"Ready the holograms!" the Announcer ordered, and the floor shone a bit with multiple colors. She glanced over at Julia who had a determined look on her face, but was trembling with anxiety.

"Life Points at 4000!" the four digits lit up on Terry's disk, and she glared at her opponent, who she think she saw slightly smile.

"Time to DUEL!" He shouted, causing yet another uproar. Terry drew her five cards in one draw, and fanned them out. _The time is now_, she told herself.

"You may go first," Lily offered. Terry didn't argue and drew another card. She silently put a monster face down, along with a face down card.

"Card Draw!" The girl declared formally, and drew her card. Terry scratched her head. "I'll place a monster face down, along with a face down, and end my turn!"

"This is exciting," Terry sighed sarcastically, drawing her favorite(well only) fire magician. "I'll play Blast Magician!" Violet flames burst from the ground in front of her, and a magician dressed in red and violet appeared before her. (ATK 1400)(DEF 1700) Terry managed to catch a twinkle of mischief appear in Lily's eye. Terry didn't want to risk her monster, so played it safe, and ended her turn.

Lily drew her next card, and added it to her hand, as if she wasn't interested in it. "I now flip summon my monster! Hiita the Fire Charmer!" _Oh shit!_, Terry cursed silently. In a whirl of flames, a girl about Julia's height appeared, with rusty red hair, and ripped clothing on, with a big scepter in her hands. (ATK 500)(DEF 1500)A small fox stood behind her shyly. Speaking of Julia, she glanced over at her teammate. She was holding up with two of her Harpie Chicks out already, while Lory had Bird of her own. That wold be an interesting battle to watch, but she had to focus on her own.

"I can now take control of one of your Fire-Attributed monsters," Lily announced, keeping herself from smiling. "And since you only have one, I'll take Blast Magician." Hiita spun her scepter around in her skilled hands, then pointed it straight at her magician. An invisible force had surrounded him, taking over his mind. He launched himself into the air, doing a fancy flip, and landed next to Hiita.

"Damn it," Terry mumbled.

"Now, Blast Magician, Attack!" Liliy ordered. Without hesitation, he materialized his bladed staff and charged at her facedown. Half way he stops suddenly, and whips his weapon at her, sending it hurling at the card in a wheel of flames. The card flipped revealing a beautiful elf, with long brown hair, blue skin, and a long green dress.(ATK 800)(DEF 2000) She mumbled a prayer, and a forcefield surrounded her just in time to stop any major damage. The weapon was deflected and sent right back at Blast Magician, destroying him. (LLP 3400) The crowd erupts into a frenzy of cheers and whistles.

"I end my turn," Lily grumbled, looking disappointed. Terry drew her card, feeling she was in total control of this duel. This girl was dueling like an amateur.

"I summon White Magician Pikeru!" She slapped the card she drew right away. A cute short girl with curled pink hair, wearing a sheep hat, and gressed in baggy white robes bounced out of nowhere with a big grin on her face. (ATK 1200)(DEF 0) It was time she put her main plan into action. "I'll then equip her with Mage Power. This allows her to gain 500 attack points for every Spell and Trap card I control. I'm in control of 2 right now, so she gains 1000 attack points." (ATK 2200) The girl smile grew, as she became surrounded by a bright red glow. Terry was getting a little nervous about the face down card. IT could be something worse then stopping a mere attack. You never know until you find out.

"Pikeru attack Hiita!" Terry ordered. Pikeru took her staff out of her sleeve, and prepared a spell.

"Negate Attack!" Lily's face down card flipped up, and Pikeru's spell faded. Her eyes filled with tears, and she slumped to the floor in disappointment. The crowd then burst out with applause. _Why are they cheering for something so small?_, she wondered. She looked beside her, and saw Cody waving at the crowd, while his opponent was walking away in disappointment.

"Delilah's Life points have dropped to nothing!" The announcer shouted through the speakers. "Cody is our first winner!" _He sure is quick_, she thought, turning back to her own battle.

"Your turn," Terry said. Lily drew her card, and automatically played it.

"Flaming Feline!" She called, and a small white cat, with a very long tail, and pointy ears tipped with flames appeared perched next to Hiita.(ATK 400)(DEF 400)_ And that's going to do what?_, Terry wondered.

"Now I can play Homeland In Trouble!" She places a card down, and it materializes in front of her, with a group of Flaming felines cowering in a corner, with a giant tiger protecting them. "This allows me to summon a Torching Tiger from my deck!" The card shatters and a tiger leaps from behind it with a loud battle cry. It's stripes are ash black, and its fury a flaming orange, and his ears are tipped off with flames, as well as his tail. (ATK 2500)(DEF 1700)

"NO!" Terry heard Julia cry. She looked over, and saw her team mate hunched over on the ground, shuddering. The holograms were gone too.

"Ohhhh, so sad," The announcer said. "Julia lost. And now it's 1-1. It's all up to Terry and Lily!"

"Attack my tiger!" Lily ordered. It took Terry a couple minutes to snap back into the game, but just in time to activate her face down.

"Magic Cylinder!" She called her card up, and a cylinder emerged from it. The tiger ran into it, it spun around, and the tiger was sent running straight for Lily.

"Crap!" she whispered, as the tiger knocked her flat on her back. (LLP 900)

"Oooo, that's gunna hurt!" The announcer boomed. Lily rolled over, and staggered to her feet.

---

Up in the stand Oscar and Alein were on their feet, cheering for Terry.

"I can't believe Julia lost man," Alein sighed. "It's like someone set it up or something."

"It was probably just a coincidence," Oscar shrugged, munching on cheese-covered popcorn. "Lily and Delilah had Elemental Charmers, so its obvious she would. That's probably how they were trained."

"So Lory just happened to have the Wind Charmer, and she just so happened to be going up against Julia, who's entire deck has Wind-Type monsters," Alein sighed, rubbing her chin. "Seems fishy."

"Well there's nothing we can do about it, so just watch the match," Oscar hissed, finishing off his popcorn.

"And so it also must be a coincidence that Terry played her fire magician, against the Fire Charmer," Alein added.

"It must be," Oscar growled. "Just watch the duel!"

---

"Since Magic Cylinder is gone, Pikeru's attack point now go down 500 points." (ATK 1700) Pikeru looked a little sad. Terry assumed by her from Lily's silence that she was done, and drew her card. Now she could end this. Pikeru waved around her wand, raising Terry's life points up 500 per monster. (TLP 5000)

"I'll equip Pikeru with Trial of the Princesses!" Terry said, placing another card on the field. "Her attack points go up 500 because of Mage Power's ability, then she also gets another 800 because of the card's effect." (ATK 2800)

"Now attack Torching Tiger!" Pikeru began casting a spell again, hoping that it would actually work this time. To her excitement it did, and she blasted the tiger into a million tiny shards. (LLP 600)

"Wh-why'd you attack Torching tiger instead of the other two?" Lily asked.

"Because of Torching Tiger's ability," Terry sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm not stupid. Once he's on the field you can't attack another Fire-Attributed monster. Plus, it also finishes my card's effect." Pikeru then became shrouded in a bright holy light.

"Now that she has destroyed a level 5 monster, she can now become Princess Pikeru," Explained when her monster appeared older, and better dressed. She had on a beautiful white and pink dress, a large crown, and a fancy scepter.(ATK 2000)(DEF 0)

"And since she's changed, Mage power is gone," Terry said, folding her arms. "I end my turn with this face down." _Let's see what she dishes out_, she thought. Lily drew a card and added it to her hand, and Terry noticed a smirk cross her face.

"I summon..." She didn't finish her sentence, but played her monster. A man in a very long cape dressed in a dragon helmet and armor emerged slowly and dramatically from a whole that leaked out smoke in the floor.(ATK 1200)(DEF 1100)

"Lord of D," Terry whispered. What is she doing? Lily placed another card down, and a small horn materialized before Lord of D. He took it, and blew it proudly, causing the whole room to vibrate. The crowd fell dead quiet, and the only sound was the screeching of two dark dragons emerging from the darkness. Terry braced herself, as two pairs of red eyes glared down at her. (ATK 2400)(DEF 2000) x2 The entire audience gasped. Hand now empty, Lily had them clasped together, and evil look of victory plaster on her face.

"Now you can't stop me," She smiled.

"You do realize I have a facedown," Terry sighed. Amateur. That slapped the smirk off her face. _Good thing I can prepared today_, Terry thought.

"Lightning Vortex!" Her face down flipped up, sending a lightning bolt at the four monsters that stood on Lily's side. The dragons screeched, and the other two fell to their knees before they blew up into tiny shards. Lily fell to her knees in defeat. _Time to end i_t, Terry thought, drawing her card as Pikeru raised her Life Points up 800 this time per monster. (TLP 6400)

"Pikeru, attack her directly," she said. Pikeru nodded, and simple pointed her scepter at her and sent a shock of magic at her, lowering points to nothing.

"And Lily's Points drop down to 0! A flawless win for Terry! That makes it 2-1, so Team Zeta wins!" The announcer shouted, causing the crowds to break out into an uproar. Lily stood tall, and kept her face blank, but Terry could see disappointment in her eyes. Terry made her way off the field casually, putting her deck back in her pouch, and turned her disk off.

"Good job Terry!" Andrew congratulated, when she reached the rest of the team. "You had such a flawless duel. Look at your score!"

"It only matters that I won," she shrugged, relieved that she could finally leave.

"You hold the current 1st place in the individual scores," Cody continued, as the three of them followed Terry. "We're currently in second, but that's okay. We'll do awesome in the next round."

"No thanks to me," Julia mumbled, defeated.

"It's just one battle," Cody sighed. "You don't need to keep beating yourself up about it."

"But I bugged you guys to let me play," she pouted. "And I let you guys down."

"She had a wind control deck, that's the only reason you lost," Terry snapped, turning on her. "So suck it up already!" Julia's stepped back, her eyes filled with pain.

"Do you have to be so harsh?" Andrew snapped at her.

"If you don't like the way I act, then why'd you let me on the team?" she challenged.

"No," Julia sniffed. "It's okay. At least she's yelling at me to move on, instead of calling me a loser."

"I only do that to people who actually have an ego to be squashed," Terry said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get going."

"Don't you want a ride home?" Andrew asked.

"Nope," she waved, without turning back to them, exiting the building.

"Not one for celebrating?" Terry turned to see Dragamire catch up to her.

"Celebrate what?" she asked, crossing her arms. "We didn't win yet."

"But you won the round."

"Small wins mean nothing," she explained. "But the big battle that decides everything is. She was such an amateur. It was an easy win."

"Does it mean anything that you are so far in first place individual scores?" he asked.

"It's only the first round my friend," she reminded. "I need to keep this up."

"So overly competitive," he chuckled.

"I'm just the right amount."

"So where are you headed?" he asked.

"Home," she said simply walking away. "And don't bother following."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Dragamire laughed, going off in his own direction. "Nice seeing you again."

---

"Our plan partially worked," The brunette said, leaning against the wall next to their leader.

"Not good enough," He said, folding his arms.

"At least we set Julia up to lose," Margery shrugged. "That brought their scores down. Our performance will be flawless."

"Yes it will," He agreed. "But how could Terry wind without losing a single life point?"

"She is good," The brunette nodded. He gave him an evil glared.

"But obviously not as good as you," He added quickly.

"She always seems to have the right cards when ever she really needs them," He said rubbing his chin. "She beat you easily with a simple trap card didn't she Holden?"

"Yes," he answered, looking ashamed.

"Maybe we could accuse her of cheating?" Margery suggested.

"That could work," He nodded in agreement.

"Why are you set on having them losing so bad?" Holden asked.

"Because I think she may actually pose as a threat," He said simply. "We'll do what ever we can to get them out."

---

_Author's Note: Wow, I finally wrote a chapter. The duel sequence may not be that good, because I feel like I kinda rushed through it. Hope you like it. Please Review!_

_---_

Here are the cards from the chapter that I created my self, and belong to me:

**Flaming Feline/Lv.2/Fire/Beast/ATK 400/DEF 400**  
**Description:** Small, white, cat-like creature, with a long tail, and ears tipped with flames.

**Torching Tiger/Lv.5/Fire/Beast/ATK 2500/DEF 1700/Effect:**  
This card can be Special Summoned by the effects of Homeland In Trouble. Your opponent cannot attack another fire monster on the field.  
**Description:** A large tiger with with ash stripes over a flaming orange pelt. Ears and tail are tipped with fire.

**Homeland In Trouble/Normal Spell/Effect:**  
You can only activate this card if a Flaming Feline is on the field. You can Special Summon a "Torched Tiger" or a from your Hand or Deck.


End file.
